Field Study's Man in E11 says, yes it is, no it isn't, yes it is, no it......

Field Study's Man in E11 and I are in a dispute as to whose incompetence or fault it is that our emanation for the Journal of 'Field Study International, Field Report 2013' is unfinished and late. It is necessary to contribute to this publication for various reasons, not least because this blog (with all it's fictions and processes) takes it's title from an assumed role of being 'thee' field student for the area/postcode of E11. 'E11' in many instances however may not extend much beyond Julian Beere's/FSMiE11's corporeal limits - thus there is plenty of negative space here for more field students, their studies and emanations. 

Last August saw a return by Julian Beere to the postcode district of E11. It so happens that he, in the guise of 'Theatre of Names and Addresses', contributed an emanation to the 2003 field report, from an address in E11. That report consisted of a list of all his home addresses. There were 35 addresses, a lifetime collection, on the list. The list represented many ideas, in particular relating to the genre of mail art, in which an address is an essential element. The list also served as an outline of a personal and social history - a portrait of a mail artist. A decade later, and the singular duo (sic) are reflecting on the nature of their housing history to date - in a rather pitiful state of melodramatic melancholia I might say, whoever I am, whoever 'I' is.

When reading the list the field student remembers, recalls and associates. It is as if he is a ghost inhabiting those addresses (or places and sites). Perhaps this activity is nostalgic and maudlin, founded as it is in the malaise of self pitying psycho-melodrama and dissatisfaction at yet another dreary domestic soap opera. But reading the list, revisiting the places and reminding  oneself might be of more merit; there may be something to learn in the experience of those haunts. Can he apply the learning to the dilemmas of the present?

The field student lost and found himself trying to locate one of the addresses he is unsure of; a farm he lived on, while at college in 1987. He wanted, for the sake of authenticity and accuracy, to find the correct address for that residence. There was an absurdity in his sitting at a computer, 27 years later, using Google maps/street view to float about the lanes looking for the farm. Did he hear again cows out in the field bewailing the loss of their calves?

The farm, he thinks, was on Hassall Road, near Alsager/Hassall - close to the M6. He found the entrances to farms but not a sense of confirmation of where he was. Try it on Google Maps
That's it! No it isn't! Yes it is! No it is......

The poetics of this search for that place may have some resonance to this site which details some of the origins of the word, Hassall - a nook - what a beautiful little word.

Hopefully we can get our self together, overcome our vacillations and distractions and so get the documentation together sooner rather than later in order to make it to the 2013 Field Report.





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