When invited to return for the launch of the publication Patrick extended the invite to Bryan Parsons and Oliver Cloke, the result; The hour (Record).

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In retrospect the hour that we spent has been quite a dramatic impasse in my artistic journey. We had a morning to prepare (there were no expectation that Nicolas Serota was going to walk in), the plan was simple and tight, but it allowed enough room to breathe, and if there were any issues, we had ways to paper over the cracks that appeared. I think the highlight of the hour was the lesson as it concreted a few Ideas that rattled around in my brain for many years. The fence that was hopped (which I am trying to lyrically do here), was the merging of practice and educational pursuits into a cohesive concept. What was obvious was the ways in which to understood and facilitated the process. 

In the process (a year later) of putting all the images together (documentary /documentation), there has been opportunity to reflect. Although maybe there were separations in the physical manifestations of the work on the day. Conceptually, I felt we were trying to get to a place of consensus, being able to do that post-partum is somewhat awkward but revelatory! From the initial requests (please forgive me but I don’t remember what you asked for) maybe questions?? and want for visuals, I started writing about the event, which is novel, and has been a more interesting process than I had originally thought. I have always felt a sense of depression immediately when a show has finished. Which is probably why I have made performance artworks (because then the pain is over quickly). However, to look back and cognitively attack it, not only lets you relive the process, but also churn it over in your brain. This led to (I felt) most pertinently, the conversations we had over Zoom. The weaving of the ideas that maybe we didn’t find at the time (The hour record event) has had time to percolate, or simply we started to talk about it, analysis has come together. Our ideas around: teaching, education, performance, documentation, the gallery, the hour was not filled with niceties, talking on Zoom is a pain, as you start to talk, and then someone intervenes. We spoke on such a range of subjects; it became a mind soup. In summation, I think this is the first iteration of many shows that could mine the quartz that lies below the themes discussed and to find fellow artists with similar interests is revelatory!

Oliver Cloke, 2020