The first 211 bricks were made last week at H.G Matthew's, me and my good friend Mike spent three long, cold, hard days at the brick yard, mixing each dust sample into clay and transforming them into bricks. Each brick was imprinted with the initials of the persons dust it contained. I have been planning this act of absurdity for many months and it was very satisfying to finally be mixing each dust sample into its own individual brick. Me and Mike inhaled a lot of dust over the course of the week and managed to reach our target by day three, finding our rhythm at the end of day two and becoming intimate with "The Brick-Makers Dance" which is best performed to jungle music!
The 'Brick-Makers Dance" was something I noticed on an earlier visit to H.G Matthew's, witnessing the guys at the yard perform a kind of jig in the process of forming and throwing bricks. The repetative nature of this process is also one of precision and accuracy that needs a certain rhythm and at this time of year its cold out there so you have to keep moving to stay warm. The irony is the guys that perform their dance each have their own style but don't even realise they are performing it. If you suggested to them that they were dancing they would probably be horrified. For them it is a way of survival and avoiding repetative strain injury, in this grueling procedure of strength and monotony.
My observations of the dance have been a great source of inspiration and will be informing the choreography for the dance perfromance that will ensue around the brick when on display at the Wellcome Collection.
