8.20 am. The Third day. I began printing out the verso pages for ‘The Floating Bible’ and assembling various balanced cables and adapters in anticipation of any problems that might be encountered while setting up the sound system. The photocopier is ailing. Each print has to be done separately. Will the copier hold out to the end of the run? I feel like a pilot who doesn’t know whether he has sufficient fuel to reach his destination. Will it fail on the penultimate print? Life is not always so melodramatic. Success!
9.00 am. Off to the School. An initial wobbly with the sound mixer. Not all outputs are equal, it would seem. A MacBook goes into sleep mode as soon as the lid is closed. And there’s nothing you can do about it short of attaching an external monitor. This is ridiculous. Clearly the bods at Apple decided that no one would ever need the facility.
10.00 am. I set up the captions and QR code labels. This always takes more time than I anticipate. After which, Mr Garrett painted the mirror plates (the pictures’ ‘ears’) grey, and I configured ‘Intercessions’:
1.30 pm. I interviewed a BA Fine Art applicant from Wrexham. 2.15 pm. The sound of ‘The Floating Bible’ droned in the background most of the afternoon. This is my first experience of it in surround, double-stereo, sound. I’m conscious that the volume level needs to be adequate for the gallery without being a distraction to anyone outside of it. My ‘suspension’ blocks arrived in readiness of the installation of the visual element of ‘The Floating Bible’, tomorrow:
6.30 pm. Back to the studio to complete a short list of small tasks (chiefly caption boards), before the final onslaught with ‘The Floating Bible’. To verso. This will be my work for the remainder of the night. The tireder one gets, the more mistakes are likely. The last lap is not always the longest, but it is always the one that requires the most concentration, and at a time when you have so little of it to give. 9.00 pm. The mounting of the verso verses was complete and readied for boxing.
9.30 pm. An earlier night (with toast and hot milk), perhaps.