'Self Propelled Self Promotion Machines'
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'The self Propelled Self Promotion Machine' in use.
The second 'Self Propelled , Self Promotion machine' in use. This one was a bit more spontaneous- 'knocked up' the day before
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In 2006 I was doing 'Landscape Seascape Skyscape Escape' at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. It was one of half a dozen shows programmed at a venue that was actually a double decker bus called 'Dr Roberts Magic bus'. The bus had fantastic publicity value but the Edinburgh public during the festival is saturated with a multitude of different types of marketing. Without being rude to people, it is hard to walk around the city without accumulating a fist full of leaflets and flyers.
My show was particularly difficult to sell because it was two hours long and was basically me telling stories illustrated with films and pictures (an art college lecture). On the face of it, this doesn’t sound that interesting but I thought that if I could engage the public on the street in conversation and slip in one or two anecdotes along with a little bit of the actual films I could win them over. The self-propelled self-promotion machine was my attempt to instigate this dialogue. The machine had two modes. The initial impact of the wheel barrow, TV and toy bus attracted an audience then, when I had every ones attention, I opened a door underneath where the DVD player was and started to play extracts of the films I used in my show. In one sense the machine was a great success, sometimes I had quite a little crowd around me while I demonstrated my wheelbarrow , most people enjoyed my little anecdotes and left with a flyer promising to come back that evening to see my full length show. Invariably I never saw them again. On one or two occasions I even had a bigger audience around the wheelbarrow than I did that evening for the proper show on the bus. |
The venue, “Dr. Roberts Magic Bus”, attracted a lot of publicity. Unfortunately, sometimes, the name and the novelty aspect gave the impression that the content might be the venue for a children’s entertainer. A couple of times we had parents making enquiries. Any association of that nature was definitely not the type of image we wanted to project when we trying to be a 'hard-core' arty experimental 'live art venue'. We were trying to be 'the fringe of the Fringe'. With my second 'Self-propelled Self -Promotion Machine' I primarily wanted to kill this association, hence the swearing.
I made it very quickly on the kitchen table in the flat I shared with the other performers from the bus. It's basically a cassette player built into a toy plastic bus pulled along by the rewind mechanism of one of the film projectors that I used in my show. I filled up the cassette with lots of announcements that were read from mine and my fellow performer’s promotional flyers. This was interspersed with regular quotes of
“All aboard, all aboard. Dr Robert’s bus, It’s fucking magic!”-
I made it very quickly on the kitchen table in the flat I shared with the other performers from the bus. It's basically a cassette player built into a toy plastic bus pulled along by the rewind mechanism of one of the film projectors that I used in my show. I filled up the cassette with lots of announcements that were read from mine and my fellow performer’s promotional flyers. This was interspersed with regular quotes of
“All aboard, all aboard. Dr Robert’s bus, It’s fucking magic!”-
The 'Car Horn Organ'
'Car horn Organ' in the car park of Musashino Art University near Tokyo, Japan.
I started to make the 'Car Horn Organ' as early as 1987 when I was 19. As well as car horns it also uses car lights and various other car parts which are fitted to an old tool box. The horns are all the notes to the tune 'Tequila' by 'The Champs'- My favorite piece of music at the time. After many failed attempts to tune the horns I realised each one had to be sourced directly from a car. Hence me and my friend 'Steve White' visited the local breakers yard with a car battery and my old school recorder. I can't remember how many stacks of scrap cars I climbed over; testing car horns in an effort to find the right notes but we eventually found all the ones we needed.
Myself, Steve and another friend, Paul Dorrington had formed an art college band called the 'Flunkies'. The name derived from the fact that we all failed to get onto an art degree course that year. Originally the band had a 'brass section' - 'Sue Guthrie', who unfortnately for us, had left to go to art college in Leicester. Consequently I made the 'Car Horn Organ' in an attempt to make a synthesized replacement for her- The name 'Susan' was painted in small letters on the side. It also has the number 'six' painted on it as well. This was Paul Dorrington's contribution (see guitar played by the wind). It refers to the character played by Patrick MacGoohan in 'The Prisoner' - A famous sixties cult TV series he was watching at the time on video at art college.
The band inevitably split up but I still have the 'Car Horn Organ'. In 'Landscape Seascape, Skyscape, Escape, I play along to a recording of 'Tequila' in front of a projected film of me and another friend 'Eddie Weldon' hitch hiking with the organ on our way to Hull. Its often referred to as the 'finale' to the show.
Myself, Steve and another friend, Paul Dorrington had formed an art college band called the 'Flunkies'. The name derived from the fact that we all failed to get onto an art degree course that year. Originally the band had a 'brass section' - 'Sue Guthrie', who unfortnately for us, had left to go to art college in Leicester. Consequently I made the 'Car Horn Organ' in an attempt to make a synthesized replacement for her- The name 'Susan' was painted in small letters on the side. It also has the number 'six' painted on it as well. This was Paul Dorrington's contribution (see guitar played by the wind). It refers to the character played by Patrick MacGoohan in 'The Prisoner' - A famous sixties cult TV series he was watching at the time on video at art college.
The band inevitably split up but I still have the 'Car Horn Organ'. In 'Landscape Seascape, Skyscape, Escape, I play along to a recording of 'Tequila' in front of a projected film of me and another friend 'Eddie Weldon' hitch hiking with the organ on our way to Hull. Its often referred to as the 'finale' to the show.
Me and some of the staff at Musashino Art University, 2001. The 'Car Horn Organ' has aquired a GB sticker in this image.
The fact that I still get asked to play the 'Car Horn Organ' gives me a strange sense of pride mixed with self doubt. I sometimes wonder if I haven't been able to better this work in the three decades that have followed. I do however also take great pleasure in seeing this very old piece of work in ever more exotic places. Often places I would have never imagined going to when I was a teenager - Places like Japan for example.
In 2001, the Musashino Art University, flew me and the 'Car Horn Organ' to Tokyo to deliver 'Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape, Escape' to their students in the lecture theatre. When I got up on the stage to play 'Tequila' (my big finale) it didn't work. It may have been the humidity but after a short intermission to try and fix it , miraculously it started working again. Several people in the audience told me later that when I 'pretended' that the machine had stopped working, that this was their ..."favourite part of the show." I realised that I had spent two hours telling everyone about the things I had made, a story of one problem and malfunction after another. When the car horn machine didn't work they assumed it was an act. (It was actually more than two hours as I had stop periodically so everything could be transalted into Japanese by an interpretor).
In 2001, the Musashino Art University, flew me and the 'Car Horn Organ' to Tokyo to deliver 'Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape, Escape' to their students in the lecture theatre. When I got up on the stage to play 'Tequila' (my big finale) it didn't work. It may have been the humidity but after a short intermission to try and fix it , miraculously it started working again. Several people in the audience told me later that when I 'pretended' that the machine had stopped working, that this was their ..."favourite part of the show." I realised that I had spent two hours telling everyone about the things I had made, a story of one problem and malfunction after another. When the car horn machine didn't work they assumed it was an act. (It was actually more than two hours as I had stop periodically so everything could be transalted into Japanese by an interpretor).
Tokyo Japan. My friend, Yusuke Toda, made the poster. He translated 'Chris Dobrowolski' but he said he couldn't translate 'Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape, Escape' because: " it didn't make any sense"
As well as Japan, I also performed the show abroad in a disused shop in Holland-2002 (See 'De Strip') and as part of an art exhibition called 'Flip Shift Show Switch', at 'Stedafreund Gallery', Berlin in 2011. The aesthetic of 'Flip Shift Show Switch' echoed a home made, counter culture, guerrilla attitude to art and society. It was very 'urban chic'. The flyer itself reflected the DIY, low tech, approach and was designed by my old friend, the aforementioned Eddie Weldon, who I had been at art college with and who features in most of the films. (He had moved to Berlin and his wife had curated the show). He made it using letterset and an old typewriter, it actually reminded me of something we may have made to advertise a house party when we were students. The gallery was in a commercial building; very gritty and industrial. The show was actually staged in the loading bay of a toiletries warehouse. If it wasn't hard enough already to hold every bodies attention as they listened in their second language for two hours, I also had to stop twice and dismantle the projector stand for two unexpected deliveries of scented soap.
Flyer design: Eddie Weldon. Berlin, 2011.
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As part of my artist's residency with the 'British Antarctic Survey' (2008-9). I put the 'Car Horn Organ' on a ship bound for the Antarctic. Six months later I was reunited with it there for one lecture at the British base, 'Rothera'. I opened all the windows and turned off the heating just to make sure nobody fell asleep during my show. Afterwards I put it back on the ship and six months later the 'Car Horn Organ' arrived back in England.
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For various reasons the 'Car Horn Organ' performance has never been filmed properly. Therefore all I have is this spontaneous recording in my workshop/studio. Appropriately it was filmed by Paul Dorrington who was from the original band. He's used his phone and a lot of the frame seems to be taken up by an electrical plug sitting on the work bench in front of the camera. In some ways the aesthetic is in keeping with the rest of the show, although its still annoying...and its not my best recital of it either. (2014? I think). The Youtube film was a promo for my book 'Escape'. Its a radio interview with Steve Hawthorne by Steve Foster on BBC radio Suffolk. The film of me and Eddie Weldon hitch hiking with the 'Car Horn Organ' is at the end. This is the film I normally project whilst playing along to the music.
Past Tour Venues 1994 to 2011
'Cafe Night', Cool tan Arts ,Brixton, London 1994
'Live Art Club' Colchester Arts centre . ('Car Horn Organ' only) 1994
Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, 1999
Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan, 2001
'De Strip', Vlaardingen (near Rotterdam) Holland 2002
'Ferrens Art Gallery', Hull 2002
'Continental Breakfast' Maribor National Gallery, Slovenia. (an extract only) 2006
'Pulse Fringe Festival', New Wolsey Studio, Ipswich 2006
Colchester Arts Centre, 2006
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dr. Roberts Magic Bus (Escalator) Edinburgh 2006
Norwich Arts Centre, 2006
'Everydebris', St. Pauls Gallery, London E3 2006
Rural Arts Development Wiltshire, touring show. Seend and Fovant 2007
Junction Theatre Cambridge 2007
Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex 2007
Burst Festival-Battersea Arts Centre 2007
'Sacred Festival' Chelsea Theatre, Dr. Roberts Magic Bus, London 2008
'The Pound Arts Centre', Corsham, Wiltshire 2008
'Rothera', British Antarctic Survey Base (also did a couple of talks on the ship James Clark Ross) 2009
'Hatch Festival'-Leicester 2010
'Flip Shift Show Switch' 'Stedafreund Gallery', Berlin 2011
A list of college lecture theatres I visted at some point since 1995 to do 'Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape, Escape'. Some were 'work in progress' performance lectures as this is really where I developed the show. A mix of 'Further Education', 'Higher Education' and 'Post Graduate level' courses; many of them I visted more than once; some weren't even art departments. At the bottom are three of the more exotic conferences I spoke at whilst working with Menagarie Theatre Company as part of their sideline in management training.
Suffolk New College, Ipswich (FE)- University of Salford - Plymouth College of Art - Anglia Ruskin University (Ashcroft school of Business) Cambridge - Leeds College of Art (FE) - Leeds Becket University (formerly 'Leeds Metropolitan University') - Kingston (FE)
- East Coast College of Art & Design, Grimsby - Hull College (FE) - K College, Tonbridge - Kent Institute of Art & Design, Maidstone(FE)
- Academy of Economic studies, Bucharest, Romania - University College Suffolk, Ipswich - Cambridge University (engineering MA)
Nottingham Trent University - Anglia Ruskin University (Teacher Training) Chelmsford - Anglia Ruskin University (Ashcroft school of Business) Cambridge - South Thames College, London (FE) - University of Oxford, Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art - Edinburgh College of Art (Embassy gallery) - Norwich School of Art - University of Central England, Birmingham, (Visual Communication MA) - University of Newcastle Upon Tyne - Braintree College (FE) - Humberside University, Hull (Lincoln and Humberside University) - Cheltenham & Gloucester School of Art - London Guildhall University (London Metropolitan) - Colchester Institute
Morale 'Welfare and Recreation conference', Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. - Sandoz, (Russian company) conference Istanbul, Turkey - Academy of Economic studies, Bucharest, Romania (Staff- I also made a second visit to tak to students)
'Cafe Night', Cool tan Arts ,Brixton, London 1994
'Live Art Club' Colchester Arts centre . ('Car Horn Organ' only) 1994
Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, 1999
Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan, 2001
'De Strip', Vlaardingen (near Rotterdam) Holland 2002
'Ferrens Art Gallery', Hull 2002
'Continental Breakfast' Maribor National Gallery, Slovenia. (an extract only) 2006
'Pulse Fringe Festival', New Wolsey Studio, Ipswich 2006
Colchester Arts Centre, 2006
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dr. Roberts Magic Bus (Escalator) Edinburgh 2006
Norwich Arts Centre, 2006
'Everydebris', St. Pauls Gallery, London E3 2006
Rural Arts Development Wiltshire, touring show. Seend and Fovant 2007
Junction Theatre Cambridge 2007
Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex 2007
Burst Festival-Battersea Arts Centre 2007
'Sacred Festival' Chelsea Theatre, Dr. Roberts Magic Bus, London 2008
'The Pound Arts Centre', Corsham, Wiltshire 2008
'Rothera', British Antarctic Survey Base (also did a couple of talks on the ship James Clark Ross) 2009
'Hatch Festival'-Leicester 2010
'Flip Shift Show Switch' 'Stedafreund Gallery', Berlin 2011
A list of college lecture theatres I visted at some point since 1995 to do 'Landscape, Seascape, Skyscape, Escape'. Some were 'work in progress' performance lectures as this is really where I developed the show. A mix of 'Further Education', 'Higher Education' and 'Post Graduate level' courses; many of them I visted more than once; some weren't even art departments. At the bottom are three of the more exotic conferences I spoke at whilst working with Menagarie Theatre Company as part of their sideline in management training.
Suffolk New College, Ipswich (FE)- University of Salford - Plymouth College of Art - Anglia Ruskin University (Ashcroft school of Business) Cambridge - Leeds College of Art (FE) - Leeds Becket University (formerly 'Leeds Metropolitan University') - Kingston (FE)
- East Coast College of Art & Design, Grimsby - Hull College (FE) - K College, Tonbridge - Kent Institute of Art & Design, Maidstone(FE)
- Academy of Economic studies, Bucharest, Romania - University College Suffolk, Ipswich - Cambridge University (engineering MA)
Nottingham Trent University - Anglia Ruskin University (Teacher Training) Chelmsford - Anglia Ruskin University (Ashcroft school of Business) Cambridge - South Thames College, London (FE) - University of Oxford, Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art - Edinburgh College of Art (Embassy gallery) - Norwich School of Art - University of Central England, Birmingham, (Visual Communication MA) - University of Newcastle Upon Tyne - Braintree College (FE) - Humberside University, Hull (Lincoln and Humberside University) - Cheltenham & Gloucester School of Art - London Guildhall University (London Metropolitan) - Colchester Institute
Morale 'Welfare and Recreation conference', Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. - Sandoz, (Russian company) conference Istanbul, Turkey - Academy of Economic studies, Bucharest, Romania (Staff- I also made a second visit to tak to students)