From Yoonjung Kim

02.10.2012 - 20.12.2012

11 weeks and 3 days at the Trelex Residency

I started the residency with a planned project that I wanted to complete. This involved splitting a 20mm by 10m cotton rope into individual strands, rolling these into balls, each one numbered, timed and dated. I found the intensely repetitive and time consuming nature of this process worked well in the context of the residency as it allowed me to focus uninterrupted on the task at hand. However I still took occasional breaks from my work – the surrounding area providing a scenic respite.

Week 1 - String (120 balls), went to Nyon Castle and museums in Nyon

Week 2 - String (150 balls), started collaborative drawing with Melanie Ward

Week 3 - String (180 balls), went to see sunrise at Nyon and visited museums in Geneva 

Week 4 - String (210 balls), visited Art Brut museum in Lausanne

Week 5 - String (194 balls) finished, took video of string process

Week 6 - Mini-show with Nina Rodin, gave presentation at coffee morning, two days of collaborative work with Luke Ottridge; explored the woodlands around the studio, went to Geneva and Cern

Week 7 - Went to Geneva, Chamonix and Lyon

After completing the string work I wanted to make something site specific in the studio space at Trelex. I spent one week drawing a continuous pencil line in a repeated pattern on a moveable wall in the space (17.5cm x 401cm x 203cm). During this time I also worked on writing for a show I am organising in Japan in 2013.

Week 8 - Writing proposal, started drawing on the movable wall in the studio

Week 9 - Finished wall drawing ‘Serious Doodling’, made small objects using Sculpey clay and took video for collaborative project with Luke Ottridge

From the end of November it started to snow in Trelex. I took this opportunity to make some work outside – casting the snow into bricks (12 x 8 x 4 cm) I built a chimney like structure with my hands.

Following this I worked on two pieces of work using black PVC tape, inspired by four small pieces of tape left on the studio floor. I cut a roll of 2.5 cm wide tape into 3.5 cm long pieces, piling them on the floor, and a 2 cm wide tape cut into 3 cm long pieces, stacked vertically on the wall. I spent one day on each.  

Week 10 - Built ‘Snow Chimney’ (48 x 40 x 100 cm) in two days, made small objects with Sculpey for Christmas

 Week 11- Stacking pieces of PVC tape, application/writing for residency

For the final few days I worked on writing applications. I also erased my wall drawing, which took longer than anticipated, taking about six hours to rub out everything and paint two coats of white emulsion to return the wall to its original state.

The Trelex Residency was my first ever residency. Not only did it give me the time and space to focus on my practice, I also spent some wonderful time with the two residents whom I overlapped with, Melanie Ward and Nicholas John Jones. I’d also like to thank Nina and her family for their hospitality.