In 2024, I conducted a crop trial of potatoes and bio-char (charcoal) in my allotment garden in Oxford, UK. In September, it was time to harvest the potatoes and entact a performance: drawing the produce from the soil through dance and movement; and creating a drawing – a potato drawing. The performance was with the Unknown Performer – a person who prefers not to be named, from 19 August 2024 and other days in August/September.
Previously I’ve described combining scientific and movement research in my post Residuals #5 Integrated Research Practice which involved planting potatoes and movement at the commencement of a crop trial at Schumacher College, Dartington, Devon.
The trial in my Oxford allotment – Residuals #7 – was part of the research study. In the trials, there was a line of potatoes which were planted with bio-char/charcoal and directly next to it was another planted with no bio-char/charcoal. ie a control.
The architecture or design of the trial Residuals #5 at Schumacher College was different to the one on my allotment Residuals #7. At Schumacher, two sets of potatoes – bio-char/charcoal and control were in a concentric circular pattern where as on my allotment then they were in straight lines forming a rectangle.
The area under study for Residuals #7 measured 8 x 1.5m and a single piece of paper provided a performance surface. Unlike other performances, the surface was not walked upon, and leaning into it with hands was the most body weight given.
Drawing the bio-char/charcoal potato
There were three performances or parts for Residuals #7:
Firstly part 1, digging up the potatoes planted with bio-char/charcoal on 19 August – a performance with me and the Unknown Performer.
Secondly part 2, a drawing with the dug up potatoes on 29 August and just me – a solo. Infact, there was also ‘preparation’ for this on Monday 26 August, Tuesday 27 August and Wednesday 28 when the potatoes where drawn from the ground and temporarily stored under straw so as to allow them all to be dug up!
Finally, as stated below – part 3 while the drawing was then finished by the unknown performer and me on September 13. Thereafter is was varnished.
We – the two performers – me and the Unknown Performer had lots of movements: digging, shovelling, scraping, walking, kneeling, picking, carrying and dropping potatoes into paper sacks to name a few. We used watering cans to introduce water onto earth so as to create a muddy wash and thereby mark the paper. See the videos for a more complete set of movements.
Unless stated otherwise then the videos below were made by the Unknown Performer. They were holding the camera and behind it hence they are not shown. Thank-you to the Unknown Performer for making the films.
Performance Part 1 – the bio-char / charcoal potato
This performance was on 19 August with me and the Unknown Performer.
Surprisingly, when the line of potatoes planted with biochar, where dug up (part 1 of the performance) then the charcoal pieces where not particularly visible. Simply using the charcoal on the paper to mark the presence of the potatoes was not going to work!
Fortunately, there was mud! But more importantly – there were wooden stakes which we’d placed on the paper to prevent the wind blowing it away. Photographs of the dug potatoes on the paper between the stakes were taken, allowing us to recreate the location of the potatoes and draw them – hence a third part to the performance!
Movement of the drawing surface
Much of the movement involved using gardening forks. However, repeatedly laying and retrieving the paper from its storage in a shed was an integral part of the movement composition! We could also notice the movement of the potatoes from under the earth to above the surface, and into paper sacks rather than only that of the human performers. Dance isn’t only human movement.
The two videos below were made by me using a tripod to hold the camera. These were made on 29 August 2024 and show the movement of the drawing surface.
Performance Part 2 Drawing the control potato – non-bio-char/charcoal
This performance – part 2 – was just me on 29 August 2024.
The motif which was adopted in Residuals #4, was that charcoal was drawn around a potato placed on the paper when it was a control potato.
In this performance – Residuals #7, the same motif was used except that instead of the biochar – which is granules of charcoal, a charcoal powder was used. This was sprinkled onto the paper with a teaspoon and then spread with a gloved hand. The result was softer and more diffuse than the mark-making in Residuals #4.
Performance Part 3 Charcoal? Where!
This performance was on 13 September with me and the Unknown Performer.
On this occasion, we used these photos and stakes to place the potatoes in a way that recreated their original location on the allotment. As you can see from the video – charcoal powder and water was used, and the potatoes replaced on the paper thus recreating their location when initially dug (drawn from the earth).
Sprinkling powdered charcol onto the paper around them, wetting it with water and creating an ink or wash. Gleefully, we smeared it onto the paper with our gloved hands. Finally, the paper showed the sites of the the charcoal potatoes on the paper!
Equally, marking the side of the paper with the potatoes grown without biochar – the control – was not so easy! Initally these potatoes were dug up and stored under a layer of straw on the pathway along the side of the potato bed. When all the potatoes were stored in this way, the paper was relaid on the bed, the potatoes uncovered from the straw and moved onto the paper. Powdered charcoal was used to draw around the potatoes creating whirls of blackness where the potatoes lay. In contrast, the biochar potatoes – as described above – were indicated with a black mark where the potatoe sat on the paper.
Finishing and display
All in all, the paper was stored and retrieved from the shed four times before being transport to OVADA in the Autumn for varnishing and finishing. The varnishing of the charcoal, mobalised the pigment and the use of a brushing pattern emphasised the site of the potatoes. Different varnishes: glossy and matt helped in this regard.
The effect was to produce a flowing and fluxing pattern over the surface of the paper suggesting that under the surface of the earth was a living and moving form. One which would have been present in the soils and earth itself.
The Unknown Performer produced a cloth backing for the 8×1.5m drawing. This was glued to the underside thus allowing it to be suspended from the ceiling upside down, allowing viewers to walk underneath it and travel its length, viewing the drawing from below. Imagine being able to fly over the surface of the earth – this is the effect. But as yet, the drawing has not been displayed in this way.
Presently, the finished and rolled drawing is being stored in the shed again, awaiting the next stage of production and performance.
