One of three pieces made as part of the Farringdon factory, a month long residency, during which the artists involved had unlimited access to a huge disused office space in Farringdon. The building had 6 floors and an accessible roof. The surface of the building was nearly all window, framed glass units repeated on all sides.
I responded to the vastness of the space, the reflections and repetitions, the muted sounds ( the building was soundproofed blocking out external noise ) and the fact that whilst I often felt very small in this space I could stand and observe the many actions outside the building. The windows both of this building and of those in similar but fully occupied buildings nearby framed people and their actions. It was a bit like being placed in Jacques Tati’s set for his film Playtime
Having made one animation (Turnagain) using forms found in the building I decided that I wanted to animate it in a different way, and that one way would be to use myself. There is something about the repetitive, absurd nature of pogoing that appeals to me and seemed perfect in the context of this space, the repetitive actions perhaps reflecting the repetition of everything both external to and within the building.
The act of pogoing became a small gesture that would literally resonate throughout the building. It became a private/ public performance, which echoed the private public nature of all the people I watched in their offices or walking by as I pogo-ed. People going to work in smart office clothes, a window cleaner, a man walking his dog, people rushing by with suitcases, those sat in offices having meetings. It became the way that I explored the space and ground of the building, traversing each floor, window to pillar, corner to corner, side to side, or simply bouncing on the spot looking out.
On my first visit to the building I was struck by the redundant lifts, their shiny surfaces recalling most vividly the previous incarnation of each floor as a working office and the original ease of movement between floors. Early on in the residency I decided I wanted to re -animate these lifts. In the end the lift became a vehicle to reflect the absurdity of moving but not going anywhere, a reflection perhaps of much of our everyday lives. I bounced around the building but most often on the spot looking at the action and inaction around me observing everyday repetitions. Placing myself within the lift makes the latter act as a frame, to add to other frames, window, film, and projection, which small within a steel pillar echoed the scale of those observed in their own framed spaces beyond the building. The lift doors were both what they are but also suggested curtains of a cinema opening and closing on a scene. I wanted the piece to reflect me being observed and as such from outside there would have been no sound, just the absurd image of me bouncing up and down around the building usually on the spot. The only time that I may have been heard would have been when I was po-going on the roof. The sound in this piece reflects the experience both within and outside the building, the muted internal space and the very noisy alive outside space. The most surreal experience for me and maybe for those watching was po-going on the very edge of the roof with the bells of St Pauls chiming in the background.

The pogoing resulted in two pieces, this and ‘PO_go’ which can also be seen on my vimeo site.