Sleeplife Archives - Museum of Photocopies

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet 2

Where do we go and what do we do when we sleep? There is plenty of activity and sensations to document. And what of the space where #SleepLife happens, how do they change? This is one such document, of a space in Accrington that needs a new #SleepLife, and quietly suffered a temporary interregnum. It’s old one has ended.

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet 6 — An A4 photocopy of a pencil sketch of the Photocopier’s mother’s gardening shoes (which were moved to the bedroom from the hallway). And the wooden cabinet containing the antique cistern that heated the water for the Photocopier’s baths. The Photocopier has almost primal childhood memory of lowering himself into the bath at his parent’s house. And the attendant feeling of comfort the first few minutes of the bath gave him. Over time it became a ritual to immediately have a bath on returning to the family home. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet 9 — An A4 photocopy of a sketch of the Photocopier’s mother’s make up bag (a tabby cat) sat atop a sheesham wood box (containing nothing) and in frot of a small pot cat ornament fixed to the wall, above an oak chest of drawers. The notes in felt tip refer to the photocopier’s fascination with the classical motif on his mother’s jewellery boxes. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet 10 — An A4 photocopy of a pencil sketch of the ornaments and jewellery boxes to be found in the Photocopier’s mother’s bedroom. The swan vase was originally his aunt Marion’s (from the Bury branch of the family, long deceased) which, along with a similarly highly glazed vase depicting a highwayman, fascinated the Photocopier as a small child on trips to Bury. The pot jewellery box, with a relief showing some scene from classical myth (made in the East Midlands) were some of the longest standing items in his mother’s bedroom, being there from the early 1970s. The Photocopier had issues drawing this freehand. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet 4 — An A4 photocopy of a quick pencil sketch of the bathroom door (with Staffordshire porcelain handle) and a highly glazed ceramic seal from the Gema ceramic company (which the Photocopier’s mother had a soft spot for). These two elements were the first thing that somehowcame to mind when trying to focus on the nocturnal bathroom visits. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet #1

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet 3 — An A4 photocopy of a pencil sketch from a Polish film poster that somehow mutated into a bored – and aborted – take on TE Lawrence. One of the first drawings made after his mother’s death, the drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet 5 — An A4 photocopy of a pencil sketch of a pot ornament made by the Photocopier’s brother at infants school that was given to his mother. Indestructible and inscrutable, the glazed clay ornament – depicting a bird it according to family legend – has never left the window sill of his parents’ bedroom. The notes in pen document the time of death of the Photocopier’s mother, amongst other sensations and observations. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet 2 — n A4 photocopy of a quick pencil sketch of the Photocopier’s mother’s bedside table (with wood-based lamp and the Photocopier’s personal effects strewn loosely upon it) and a battered Roberts digital radio. The radio was notorious in being too loud. The Photocopier’s late mother, who was an insomniac, would play the BBC World Service at high volume throughout the night, often to everyone else’s irritation. The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.

Sleep Life Bedroom-Bathroom-Toilet 8 — An A4 photocopy of the Photocopier’s notes in felt tip. The photocopy that is pasted in the bottom right hand corner is from Wyndham-Lewis’s Vorticist Manifesto, “Blast” (1914). The drawing is in the Photocopier’s notebook of his nocturnal experiences whilst sleeping in his late mother’s bedroom, over Christmas and New Year 2019-20.

SleepLife Dream Log #3

A few weeks ago the Photocopier collated some answers about the sleep life of important professionals in the music business, in the upstairs room of a Groningen pub. Some of those answers (spread over four separate posts) are to be seen here. One can only wonder; what does sleep really mean to us, during our never-ending lives?

Sleep_Life_Sleep_Log_1 — The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Russian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 3 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Belarusian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 9 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Dutchman. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 17 — A photograph of a photocopy of a pencil drawing. The Photocopier once started drawing images that made him sleepy or had an inherently tiring element to them. These images – taken from various sources (the suffering of WW2 prisoners, young people being young) make him very sleepy.

Sleep Life Dream Log #2

Sleep Life Dream Log 12 — A photograph of a photocopy of a colour photocopy of a drawing. The Photocopier’s friend Charlien asked him about any recurring nightmares he may have. The Photocopier doesn’t like to think of eyes under water.

Sleep Life Dream Log 11 — A photograph of a photocopy of a form found by the photocopier in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Dutchman. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 7 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Slovenian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep_Life_Sleep_Log_2 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Russian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

A photograph of a photocopy of a pencil drawing. The Photocopier once started drawing images that made him sleepy or had an inherently tiring element to them. These images – taken from various sources (the suffering of WW2 prisoners, young people being young) make him very sleepy. This particular image is a favourite of Estonian popstar Mart Avi as it reminds him of his grandfather.

Sleep Life Dream Log #1

Sleep Log 10 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a German. I think… The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 16 — A photograph of a photocopy of a pencil drawing. The Photocopier once started drawing images that made him sleepy or had an inherently tiring element to them. These images – taken from various sources (the suffering of WW2 prisoners, young people being young) make him very sleepy.

Sleep Life Dream Log 4 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Belarusian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleeplife #2

Together with two good friends of great artistic repute, the Photocopier has embarked on a new, ongoing project called Sleeplife. Quite what Sleeplife means is anybody’s guess. But the Photocopier and his friends agree on one point: Sleeplife is pretty much all we have left.

Given the subject of sleep has been misunderstood, abused or harnessed into many things over the years that have nothing to do with it – or employed as the courtier to our rampantly egotistical and psychotically-squeezed waking state – it’s maybe time to add to that confusion.

We are all agreed on that.

The first seeds of confusion – and eventual absolution – were sown in a gloomy December week in Brussels, a city with many lives and psychic arteries. Manifestos, explanations, actions, reflections and other artistic or socio-cultural bricolage will all be photocopied and added here; as is my wont.

These posts will show the Photocopier’s modest contribution. The work of Charlien Adriaenssens and Larissa Monteiro are “deep linked”, daddy-oh. They may, or may not post about Sleeplife. Who can tell?

A photograph of a string of photocopies and a drawing imposed on a wall in Brussels Schaerbeek. The photocopies were first stitched together and then sellotaped strategically to the wall (which displayed a treatise on the politics of sex; the remnant of the previous exhibition). Here we see photocopies employed as imps of legend, there to obfuscate, upturn or confuse. No answer need be given. Image sources are: Polish film posters, Czech communist-era toys made from industrial waste, images from the Photocopier’s own imagination and a pencil illustration from a book about the Black Death. Part of the opening – and ending – of the inaugural Sleeplife residency (KAK Brussels, December 8-12, 2019, CE). Next to the copies we see a long strip of wallpaper with the Photocopier’s drawings of skulls and a remarkable silver bear head found at the Residency, denoting frustration at his lack of sleep on the first night. This was taken during the show. The dingy light appeals.

A photograph of a string of photocopies, imposed on a wall in Brussels Schaerbeek. The photocopies were first stitched together and then sellotaped strategically to the wall (which displayed a treatise on the politics of sex; the remnant of the previous exhibition). Here we see photocopies employed as imps of legend, there to obfuscate, upturn or confuse. No answer need be given. Image sources are: Czech communist-era toys made from industrial waste, and an approximation (from memory) of the horses drawn by C19th illustrator, Edmund Dulac. Part of the opening – and ending – of the inaugural Sleeplife residency (KAK Brussels, December 8-12, 2019, CE). This was taken during the show. The light (from a ground light used to illuminate other works) may lend a certain poignancy to the juxtaposition of the slogan and children’s toy and horse drawings.

Sleeplife #1

We are all agreed on that.