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| The Dukes Stone in Lancaster by Anhon |
With each stop the train made.
With each stop the heavier they became.
Their luggage, prams, pies in hand
But not only that; increasing waistbands.
At Preston, the train waited increasingly so,
There were police, stewards - the train was a no go.
Announcements came, merriment ensued
'The train is too heavy, it cannot move
Another one will be along shortly' please do not scoff
Announcements wained - no one got off.
Anhon
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The Lions New Moon
Hany Parks judicious placing of her Gothvos stone into the often silent void behind ancient histories and between cultural vicissitudes weaves a subtle web, needing a particular angle of light to illuminate but the softest breeze to remove. Between icons of national identity, cultural tourism and the parameters of human orientation, the far west and the far east further still, the random acts of an individual.
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| Hany Park placing a greenstone in Bulguksa |
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| A representation of a Cornish Greenstone axe placed to promote good luck to everyone from Hany Park in Korea. |
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| The temple is considered to be a masterpiece of the golden age of Buddhist art in the Silla kingdom of Korea. |
Bulguksa.
The Gothvos stone was placed in Bulguksa
which is a temple in South Korea being built in 774 by the Silla royal court.
The stone is now in a square of the pagoda, the stone structures of the pagoda
have been preserved from the original Silla construction for 1240 years.
Gothvos is a connector of time between the year 774 – 2014 and future. The
physical space of the temple implies the constancy and change of time in an
endless time sequence.
The Gothvos is placed inside of the
pagoda (the last picture), people put coins between layers, wishing luck. I
send my regards with Gothvos, wishing good luck to everyone.
Bulguksa is located on the
slopes of mount Toham (Jinheon-dong, Gyeongju city, North Gyeongsang province,
South Korea). It is a head
temple of the Jogye Order
of Korean Buddhism
and encompasses seven National
treasures of South Korea, including Dabotap and Seokgatap stone pagodas,
Cheongun-gyo (Blue Cloud Bridge), and two gilt-bronze statues of Buddha. The
temple is classified as Historic and Scenic Site No. 1 by the South Korean government. In 1995, Bulguksa was added to the UNESCO
World Heritage
List together with the Seokguram Grotto, which
lies four kilometers to the east.
The temple is considered as a masterpiece of the golden age of Buddhist
art in the Silla kingdom..
It is currently the main temple of the 11th district of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism.
Among the earliest wood block prints in world, a
version of the Dharani Sutra dated between 704 and 751 was found there in 1966.
Its Buddhist text was printed on a 8 cm × 630 cm (3.1 in
× 248.0 in) mulberry paper scroll.
Pauls Stone
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| Lithuanian Gothvos by Paul Attmere |
I decide to place the
Greenstone on one of the fifteen windows of a derelict basketball court looking
towards the centre of Krakes. The basketball court, like the swimming pool,
sauna and cinema, was built for the town during Soviet times. Since 1991, when
Lithuania gained independence, these buildings have been slowly deteriorating
and are now pretty much beyond repair. Over the years most of the windows have been
smashed and much of the interior stripped but surprisingly, given the high value
of metal at the moment, the metal shutters are still in place. There is an
incongruity that I like placing a Greenstone here but when I position it I feel
something is not right. This morning I had imagined placing the stone in the
same way I often visualise a scene I want to make in a performance. Romeo
Castellucci, the Italian theatre director, observes there are two dramaturgies[1]:
the imagined dramaturgy and the dramaturgy acted out in time and space. His
point is that the second is an extension of the first even if it significantly
changes. This is not a performance but there is definitely something ritualistic
about it. I remove the stone and follow my intuition to place it somewhere else.
This Greenstone was formed in the Mounts Bay area, a region of Cornwall I have
a strong family connection with. I feel the stone should be placed, if not near
the sea, at least near water.
It seems I cannot place the Greenstone without referring
to the stone’s origins as well as my own. I too need to be near water: my
surname, Attmere, comes from the old English word for a lake or sea –mere. It
means literally my family lived, at the mere. Also, I was born and bred in
Weston-Super –Mare, a seaside resort twenty miles from Bristol. The town’s name
similarly comes from its close proximity to water- super means on, and mare is Latin for sea. Despite
this, when it comes to the sea, it is not Weston’s muddy shoreline but the
granite cliffs and beaches of south Cornwall I miss.
Although I wasn’t born in Cornwall my family, on both my
mother’s and father’s side, come from the Penzance area and this is where, as a
child, I spent most of my summers, even passing en-route to my Uncle and Aunt’s
cottage in Mousehole, the Penlee Quarry -where I believe some of the stones may
have come from. One year I remember performing an odd ceremony in which I
awarded myself a silver St. Christopher in the bedroom of my aunt’s cottage as
if to ensure, however far I travelled, the spirit of the place would travel
with me. I still have the St. Christopher, bought from one of the gift shops at
the bottom of Raginnis Hill. I can’t help thinking of this as I make my way
towards the first of three town ponds (or Tvenkinys as the locals call them)
where I now intend to place the stone. There is also a tentative family
connection, on my Mother’s side, between Cornwall and Lithuania: In 1799 a man
called John Kowliskey, who appears to have been a sailor aboard H.M. Gun Brig
“Boxer,” set up home in Newlyn. Over the years the family name changed to
Kliskey and it was one of these Kliskeys (currently a resident of New Zealand)
that drew up a family tree that showed John Kowliskey’s roots stretched back to
16th century aristocracy from Lithuania and the Ukraine.
Krakes is pretty much in the centre of Lithuania and 200km
from the Baltic Sea- so the water will have to be fresh not salt. It is on the
periphery of the town and within view of our house that sits maybe 100 metres
from the south bank of the pond. We laid the foundations three years ago and
decided to use walls made of compressed straw. We hope to move in this summer.
You can’t see it in the photo I took of the stone but if you’re standing up you
can glimpse it like a giant mushroom, just visible behind the frozen reeds. The
wind is getting up making the temperature feel even colder than -10 centigrade.
I remember how, during a hot spell last summer, the cool morning breeze smelt
like it had come directly from the sea. Lithuania is predominately flat so
perhaps it had come uninterrupted from the Baltic. Today my cheeks feel cold as
clay. There is a small jetty that is particularly popular with teenage couples
because it has a good view of the sun setting in the west. I place the stone just
within arm’s reach- it is where the first pond spills into a channel that runs
beneath the road and into a second larger pond. Having removed my gloves my
hands become so cold I find it difficult to push the shutter on my camera and
writing down my immediate impressions (as I’d imagined) is out of the question
because I can’t hold my pen let alone write anything legible with it.
Placing the stone didn’t work out quite the way I intended.
I like that. Life in Krakes hasn’t worked out quite the way I planned either -and
I like that. If more snow comes, as forecast, it’s possible the stone will lay
undiscovered until spring. Perhaps it
will be found by a couple of young lovers who attach some special meaning to
it- even if they never discover the true meaning of the word Gothvos. Then
again, a fisherman might kick it carelessly into the water.
[1] LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre). A Conversation
about Dramaturgy, contd. Laban London. May 2004.
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Mary's Advice to Tiffany.
Brighton Beach Monday 7th April 2014
I do not enjoy Mondays and waking up to them is not my most favourable part of the week. The rain was beating hard, but it seemed apt weather - suited my greying mood.
I caught the train from London Victoria, on an impromptu visit to Brighton, to stave away Monday blues. I use the place as a quick get out clause, when I am finding London intolerable. Being by the sea - inspite of bad weather - is a great solice for us all.
Arriving on the beach that day was somehow like I had never done so before, even though I had visited in recent months and many times previous in years past.
'Nothing like visiting the same place twice to mark the passing of time.' My friend Mary tells me. How true, I thought.
I nestled my stone, in amongst thousands of others that bore no enigmatic inscription, but each defined by their own distinct shape, indentations and journey from sea to shore. Or vice versa.
I stood by it and peered - considering a few things that had been occupying my thoughts, that day; friendship and how it shifts and changes like the forms of these many stones, also distance and why it this is inevitable with people and places. The utter loneliness of loss and letting go. But the great comfort I realised of visiting a place, I associated with someone who is now gone. But who seemed so present, he could have been stood next to me. Observing my stone with me, in amongst all the others.
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| TIFFANY CHARRINGTON |
