FIGURE OF 8
JANETKA PLATUN
BRIXTON ICE RINK
22ND JULY 2013
COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY
2. a custom, phrase, or use of language that acts as a test of
belonging to, or as a stumbling block to becoming a member of, a
particular social class, profession, etc.
Shibboleth
“I’m about five minutes away from the bus
stop. I pass by tennis courts and a cemetery,
there’s lots of greenery. I then have a
choice of four or five buses that will take me
to Tooting Broadway. Any one of those buses
can take me to the underground.”
“They sometimes let me skate on my own for five minutes
with no one else on the ice. I use muscle memory to move
around, I’m still getting used to this rink,”
TRACY
“…drawing is blind…the operation of drawing would have
something to do with blindness, would in some way regard
blindness. Drawings, especially self-portraits, reflect
the artist’s memory and unconscious anticipation… The
experience or experimenting of drawing (and experimenting,
as its name indicates, always consists in journeying beyond limits) at once crosses and institutes these borders,
it invents the Shibboleth of these passages.”
GLORIA
“The only bit of Brixton I know is the little
bit between the tube station and the ice
rink. It isn’t the nearest place but it’s
the place that was picked by the club at
University, I went where they went.”
AMANDA
JACQUES DERRIDA
JANETKA PLATUN
FIGURE OF 8
During a workshop the skaters explored
a number of questions:
“When you travel to and from the ice
rink what route do you take habitually
and why?”
“Are there areas you pass through on
your way to and from the ice rink that
you feel more or less comfortable /
safe in?”
London is often described as a cold, unfriendly place.
‘Figure of 8’ questions this perception and looks at
how a sense of connection in society can be encouraged
and made visible. The project explores how territorial
and interactive relationships, in the darkness of a
frozen stage, can act as a metaphor for how we live
our lives and find ways of belonging.
Eight non professional skaters were invited to
participate, representing a diverse range of ice
skating activities, backgrounds and ages. Despite
sharing an ice rink most of them had never met one
another before. They were chosen because of the
importance skating plays in their lives and the
different ways they inhabit the ice, leaving marks
that are distinct to them, that show their individual
paths.
To compare the journeys inside on the ice, and the
journeys outside on the streets, each skater was given
a GPS device to record their pathway home, to or from
the rink.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
“My blades are razor sharp. I stick to the
same route home. There are definitely streets
I don’t go down, I know that if I go down
them I’ll get attacked by gangs.”
MARTIN
“‘Just wait a little, until the moon has
risen, and then we will soon find the way.’
And when the full moon had risen, Hansel took
his little sister by the hand, and followed
the pebbles which shone like newly-coined
silver pieces, and showed them the way.”
HANSEL & GRETEL, BROTHERS GRIMM
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
“I accompanied some of the skaters
on their GPS recordings. I found
myself saying goodbye in parts of
London I had never been to before.
It’s intriguing going on someone
else’s journey, then having to
figure out how to get back home.”
ROBERT FROST
The GPS tracks were scaled and mapped onto the ice.
Each skater glided along the GPS track of another
route, whilst simultaneously watching their own
journey being skated by someone else. Sketched in the
darkness, onto the ice, each path became a temporary
light drawing, illuminating unexpected connections.
JANETKA PLATUN
A PEOPLE UNITED COMMISSION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE
NATIONAL THEATRE.
THANKS & CREDITS:
To all the skaters and their families who participated
in the project. And to Emily Simmons and her staff at
Brixton Ice Rink who were so welcoming and allowed us to
skate in the dark! Finally to Jessica Collier, Rachel
Hale, Gerry Clark and Celine Mcilmunn for their creative,
technological and moral support.
Photography: Sue Venables
Workshop facilitator: Kate Beales and Django Pinter.