In my studio – Zoe Kate Reddy
My studio on the first floor of my house has a small balcony; it overlooks a generally empty but well manicured garden and faces a portrait window parallel to my own. I often appear from behind a red curtain and stand on this balcony; music playing in the background, a self composed soundtrack or music to inspire.
There is always sound…
One floor up and I am in the second studio, the hot pink attic space with an apex roof that serves as a music room, filled with more guitars and more keys and more black boxes and more red lights and more buttons. Here I work with others, this is a shared space, it also has a balcony, but higher up it feels like the rigs above a stage, where the spotlights hang and from where we can peer out at the others.
Downstairs the studio is not shared; I have covered the walls in my own image or images I like. It looks like a wall is missing in this room; in its place is a window that runs from knee height to ceiling and across the breadth of the room. Sometimes I cover it with torn magazine pages, making a kind of check board of momentary inspiration, tits and ass and glitter, pop idols and paintings, punchy text, David Bowie and futuristic fashions.
But sometimes I tear them all down and leave the window naked, I put on costumes and prance around with curtains half drawn, banjo in hand. My studio is my stage. It’s not even a warm up, it’s the first performance for any new work and the parallel window and occasional garden inhabitants are my audience. This is not to say that nothing magic happens when I take the performance or the work or whatever is to a new place, I am as influenced by that stage as by my own.
In this room I keep the floor white and as clear as possible until a project explodes and paper covers the floor, gathered in color coordinated piles that are filed away after being trampled on for weeks. Then the floor is cleared and I start again.
I have always looked for spaces with large windows; I am not a painter so it’s not about the light. Perhaps it’s a question of voyeurism or exhibitionism? Or it is the desire for a constant visual reminder, the looking and the being looked upon that my work requires. Be it performance or video or photo or even in the role of curator I require reflection in my studio in order to grasp the different and common gazes.
This small space is where things begin.
From two rooms and two small balconies, ideas start and characters are born.
This studio is my stage and my stage is the studio.
Zoe Kate Reddy. Upcoming Projects:
New performance piece: ‘The 3 sisters’ Saturday 25th May at 15:00 in Kadmium kunst centrum Delft
This performance marked the beginning of a week long video project for which Zoe is still looking for participants:
FRIDAY 31ST MAY IN KADMIUM KUNST CENTRUM
16:00-18:00
19:00-21:00
Filming small scripted scenes, open to all.