We had to leave our shoes above ground and put on steel capped boots and bright yellow hard hats. Then we descended into the Southwark underground station along a fire passage by the side of the escalator to reach a large hallway, a possible venue for the performances of 13 Different Keys.
Producer, dancers, musicians and production technicians stood in this beautiful but unfinished space and we tried to imagine how to focus attention on a performing space with an audience that could move around. Dust filled the air, builders were criss-crossing the floor and shouting instructions. Reiko Ichesa brought out her Viola da Gamba, someone miraculously found her a chair and she started to play in order to test the acoustics. Everything changed. Our imaginations shifted. Whatever linear thinking that had been necessary to make decisions, involving the Artangel project or building a station, was suspended. Our timing changed. Everybody slowed down, stopped or moved quietly, their eyes and ears on Reiko and her music. An artist at work, a space transformed from its original use and a group of people that became a curious and surprised audience. It all made complete Artangel sense.
In fact 13 Different Keys was never performed at Southwark Station. It was not going to be ready in time and we prepared our performances for the lager brewery in Brick Lane.
The preparations for these performances were extensive, unlike Reiko's improvised moment underground. But the planning did not take away that sensation of shift that seems so much part of Artangel events. Each one feels like the opening of a special box in which a totally unpredictable image appears and floods our imaginations before closing again.
Each time my imagination and therefore my work is shifted into new possibilities. I am so glad that I have been involved in Artangel's infectious vision.
Image: The Atlantis Building space before production began on 13 Different Keys began in 1999. Photographer: Sarah Ainslie