ARTISTS SPARE ROOM: CAT SMITH-IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
My name is Cat and I run an event management production company in Glasgow called Mini Schmidt Productions, where I focus on bringing other people’s ideas to life. I’ve been looking for the opportunity to create some of my own work again, and therefore was delighted when the Eden Arts accepted my application to take up residency in their Artists’ Spare Room.
7 days
Monday
2020, 10 years left to minimise the damage that global warming will impact on humans. Catatonic fear. What impact can my art make? Naomi Klein This Changes Everything. A fire station and a comfy chair. Friendly people everywhere.
Tuesday
Vegan curry (thank you Simon), Rutland, McDonalds. The beginnings of millennial rants, Snowflake. 30 minutes in.
Wednesday
Penrith offers an accessible sustainable lifestyle alternative, cities have some work to do. The impact of Universal Credit and Tory Austerity. Thank you to Simple Goodness for vegan treats. An exploration of my own restrictions as a performer. Taking up space.
Thursday
Meditations and anxiety. Education and workshops. The Empowered Woman Project. Website updates. Heading Towards Extinction. Existential crisis dreams, in 10 years one fifth of British mammals will be gone. Australia continues to burn. Penrith continues to rain.
Friday
Merde. Forgotten people and quick one liners. Thank you to Adrian and Heather for inviting me to the Lancaster Arts to see Tara Fatehi Irani’s Mishandled Archive, an installation performance piece. The pieces of stories individually hanging and still all connected are fascinating and Tara takes we the audience with her as she navigates through them all. Very powerful physicalised piece with a striking soundtrack that embodies the atmosphere throughout. I leave with a small piece of Mishandled Archive and a lovely new Lancaster Arts tote bag.
Saturday
Bryoney kindly invites me on a day trip to the mountains in the Lake District. Armed with a camera, white trainers and out of breath lungs. Commutes. Contrasting landscapes of Glaswegian dystopian motorway and clear crisp green fields. Snow, churches & deer. Flooded roads. International Womxn’s Day planning. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Portable heaters and layers are my best friends.
Sunday
Tidy, gather, collect, write, pack up, walk up, train home.
Thank you to all at the Eden Arts for an inspiring and insightful week.
