babaloutanawebbblog

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(lily kroese)

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Working with Lily for Unit X has been an absolute pleasure, our work really compliments each other in a strange way. We are always sharing ideas and inspirations to explain what we want and mean from music I randomly found on National Geographic’s instagram to an old 40′s radio broadcast Lily found on Youtube and pIctures and artists and everything and anything! 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/louwebb92/lilly-lou/

We both supported each other through the project both equally contributing to it. We both scheduled appropriate times to work together on the things that needed to be done and then set times for individual work such as my taxidermy to be done for a certain time. We problem solved together and improved on our mistakes. Largely with making plaster windows too fragile. We were communicating daily to make sure we were both on the same page with what we were doing and if anything had changed or happened. When we did a call for people to contribute things for our radio Lily had a lot of friends who wanted to submit things. Lily was great at promoting our work and collecting our materials. She has a lot of amazing, kind, creative friends. It was lovely seeing how many people were willing to do something for us when we weren’t giving them anything back, we were not paying them and we sourced over 20 minutes of material almost all external. 

The exhibition went very smoothly and a lot of people enjoyed the town. We utilised the space we’d found under the stairs really well and created this magical, fantasy town which was kind of scary and creeping people out which I like.

We have both really enjoyed working together and will continue to make mouse town and other pieces of work together over the summer.

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LILLY & LOU FINAL SHOW

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LILY & LOU EXHIBITION SET UP

Fred Aldous all day.

The days leading up to the exhibition were full of finishing bit off such as the music, burning the disc and ensuring we had all the equipment for the set up. We managed to tie all of our loose ends and transport everything safely to the venue even though I was hesitant to give it to the driver. We cleared our space under the stairs, we had to buy dust masks because it was so dirty. Me and Lily we’re absolutely covered from head to toe. We started going a bit crazy but thats what cigarettes and chocolate are for. We started hanging the windows from the very back of the stairs. We had nails, string, everything we needed to try to finish setting up that day baring in mind the shop closed at half 5 and I had work at 5 and now needed to go home to wash or at least change! 

I didn’t want to think about all the dust mites in my hair and on my clothes that day. We carried on filing the space, hanging and tie-ing strings. The next day i couldn’t tie a bow. We filled the space and then hung the mice. We attached strings to their arms and tails so they could stand and had the appearance of puppets. Once we were coming to the end of setting up the space was barley dusty but we wanted it to be for the aesthetics of mouse town, living in dark, secrete places, away from trap layers quietly. 

We had ‘been down the mines’ and were both very tired and sick of being under the stairs but we both loved being under the stairs away from everyone else. We had so many windows to hang and we were still breaking some, the windows are so fragile, but we had glue and we had to finish. We were selective with what windows went where, the ‘better’ looking windows were saved to be used at the front and the other at the back. We only used what we thought the town needed, we had made several moons to display but only used one in the end, editing is important, people think you need to display lots and everything but being considerate is a skill, the minimal aspect in the work is something we like, the clean white materials and the dusty dark spaces where mice roam is a lovely pairing. 

We remembered to take breathers and take a step back to look at our work and placement. 

The next day we installed the CD player which passed it’s test and stuck up our name tags crediting everyone who contributed to the mouse town radio. It was good to look at mouse town the next day with fresh eyes and the accompanying music.

We had bought a torch for people to shine down into mouse town, the shadows the windows cast were beautiful on the walls but we decided we needed a brighter torch so we bought 2 more and took the brown, acetate I had covered the first torch in because the light was too blue/white and added it to the new ones. We could only afford the cheap, small, LED torches which have a very stark light so we improvised with a film over the light. 

The finger puppets were placed closer to where the viewer could use them if they wanted too but I think a lot of people were scared of the mice and were quite hesitant to use them. 

I wish we had moved the wire. But there was a lot of tangled wires we had to detangle and move and a lot of other shit, we thought it might add to the effect of them living around people in the places people forget and conceal. I also wish that we could have covered the big light on the stairs to make mouse town a bit darker but that was a health and safety issue. Sometimes I wish we had a CD player where you could really listen to the mouse town radio because they you’d know it’s not cute, or funny. Mice don't like you and they want you to go away. 

I’m so proud of what me and Lily made, we both worked really hard to make our vision and mouse town will keep growing and will stay in the dark.

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Publication

I’m in my friends magazine, i have a double spread and I’m flattered! I don’t have a copy yet or a saved image of my work in the zine but I’ll have one soon! 

FUTCH

https://www.instagram.com/futch_mag/

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MUSIC

Me and Lily had over 10 minutes worth of music for our mouse town radio and more material kept coming! We had music from stranger, friends, the harp, piano and a dance track. We enlisted my friend Jordan who studies music production to help us collate the tracks and make it sound like an old radio. We put all the tracks together into one song and edited the transitions to sound like a tuning radio with old 40′s broadcasts and glitches. I was waiting for my CD player to be P.A.T. tested at uni so we could hide the sound system and play it in the mouse town at our exhibition. 

This is a link to the radio 

https://soundcloud.com/lilykroese/mousetown

The music is important to mouse town because we feel like it gives some kind of explanation to what mouse town is and some sort of context was needed!

Here are some of the pieces of Poetry on the radio.

‘First mouse town was just an empty space, under the trap layer’s footsteps  hiding from the light, Too small for trap layers Too dark for their wide, wet, white eyesSwirling colours and red lines In the dark we could be! and eat and speak and sleep Fields and ground were first memories! Then tales,mouse town has grown old Keeps growing Here we remain wary and watchful’

‘They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.’ 

- A bible quote Joel 2:9

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FINGERS

I bought some Alginate to cast my finger with which i have never done before. The Alginate is what dentists use and is safe to come into contact with the skin unlike plaster which sets very hot and would trap whatever was inside it. The technician in plaster showed me how to do so, tested a swatch on my skin and left me to do it. It was very easy, obviously it becomes more complex when casting more than three fingers, one did break but I fixed it with a bit of glue and Alginate. We decided to keep the fingers white like the plaster windows we’ve made. These will act as stands for our finger puppet mice. I will definitely be casting more in the future for my taxidermy and I would love to cast a face, just because why not. 

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Poster 2.0

Lily designed this poster for our exhibition on her computer, she is a whiz.

Me, Lily and Zina printed copies in red and turquoise on the risoprinter and put them around uni, in pubs, bars and shops to promote our exhibition closing event. The second is an ‘Insta friendly’ Version which Lily also designed in several colours. The printer seemed more intimidating than it actually was, maybe it’s because I don't like machines or technology, I just don’t trust them. But I would like to use it again.

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LOU & LILY

The window making process continues. We have made over 100 windows which doesn't sound like a lot but it has been a long process with a lot of losses.  RIP

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LOU & BELLA

the outcomes of my disturbing fabric 

This collaboration was kind of a failure but thats okay. I did what we set out to do but we didn't develop as a team, didn't communicate or share ideas. I don’t think we were on the same page with what work we wanted to do but I made a Pinterest inspiration board for us anyway.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/louwebb92/lou-bella/

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Windows

30/4/18

Windows in an old mill by my halls. I always wonder what people do in there.

They inspire the windows for our mouse town. What is behind the windows 

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Open Call

27/4/18

Me and Lilly decided we wanted a radio station in our ‘Mouse Town’ to give it some context and explain what the town was like. We posted on our social media’s asking people to contribute things to be played on the station. 

‘Friends ! silly art project help ❤️calling all mouse enthusiasts, mice, storytellers, musicians & makers ! we’re making a ‘radio station’ to play inside an installation we’re making (for an exhib at Fred Aldous on the 10th !) if you have any sweet & spooky coraline-esque music or stories please send then our way... you could record or write a news report, weather forecast, short songs, missing mouse report, lullabies, interviews and instrumentals etc .... anything !’

We both then personally messaged our friends who we thought might be interested or were musicians. 

A man called Thomas from BIMM composed a short song for us to play and we gave him feedback. This was the original he created after giving him some inspiration and a briefing. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFjTzMgWaSU

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Mine

Back in easter I made some latex surfaces embedded with nails, i wanted to make more, larger ones to put on surfaces or photograph on the body. I really enjoyed the outcome however next time I attempt it I will begin with painting thin layers of latex on a light coating of baby powder. I will then place the nails onto the original layers of latex and repeat the process or pour latex over the surface. This way the nails will remain on the latex and won't fall out like some did. The latex took a long time to dry! I left it for over a week! 

I have used too much talc here so some was trapped in the latex. The talk ensure the latex doesn't stick to it’s self but when i repeat this I will just use the powder at the end of the process when removing it. I will also use all the same type of nails for consistency, not random ones like i’ve used here.

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Manchester Museum

25/4/18

Going to Manchester Museum is one of my favourite things to do and because the taxidermy display doesn't change much and thank god because I love it, I don’t go that much, but maybe I should and improve my drawing skills. I love the cabinet of curiosity esque presentation, the dark displays and hundreds of specimens. I have just done a puppet show for some children my friend volunteers for, it was just a silly little story they wrote but I think it went a bit over the children’s heads but oh well I did it and I tried to make the puppets as animated as possible with little quirks and movements. On my way home i came to the museum, i don’t need to explain why I love it so much or why it inspires me. I tried to do some drawings and almost gave my friends puppet away to a child. 

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LILY & LOU

17/4/18

Making windows

Me and Lilly are continuing the process of making windows from plaster. At first we thought we could pipe the plaster but due to a short window of time that the plaster is the right consistency to be pipped this way would be quite tricky. Instead we are making clay mounds and pouring the liquid plater in to set. Below are a few we have made. The first batch we made were too thin and all crumbled to pieces when we tried to remove them from their casts. We made them thicker and allowed the plaster to dry completely before taking them out of the moulds. Once we had a large collection we began to refine them, filing them and fixing the broken. We will tie them up with cotton and hang them at the exhibition. We continue to make them to ensure we have plenty for the exhibition and we have extras incase any break. 

We tried making windows with baking soda, flour and shaving cream, all sorts of strange kids craft methods which some worked quite well but plaster gave the best looking results, although it was fun experimenting. 

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LILY & LOU

16/4/18

Some photos of the taxidermy finger puppets I made on a broken hand we bought from Fred Aldous