Confessions of a Recovering Data Collector

To celebrate the launch of Confessions of a Recovering Data Collector - the new book by NVA’s reporter-at-large Ellie Harrison - a special event took place at Space** in London on 8 October 2009.
 
The launch took the form of a faux ‘therapy session’, in which writer and critic Sally O’Reilly took on the role of ‘therapist’. Elaborating on her specially commissioned essay for the book, she publicly quizzed Ellie Harrison about the side effects of, and motivations behind, her former ‘data collecting’ practice.
 
The unusual presentation format offered a new and refreshing approach to analysing the artist’s work. Both entertaining and thought provoking, the discussion not only provided an overview of Ellie’s previous projects, but also began to explore the potential causes of these displays of obsessive behaviour. The therapist’s conclusions pointed towards the influence of internet technology and the proliferation of neoliberal policy which have, knowingly or not, affected the way we act as individuals within contemporary society.

**Space, 129-131 Mare Street, London, E8 3RH
 
Video documentation of the ‘therapy session’ can be viewed online here:
 
www.vimeo.com/7125285

NVA has had exclusive permission to reproduce the Introduction to Ellie's book, written by fellow artist Hannah Jones:

On 1st August 2006 Ellie Harrison announced that she had quit ‘data collecting’. No longer would she undertake the timeconsuming, self-imposed projects which both attempted todocument, but also plagued, her daily life and routine. No longer would she have to apologise to friends, disrupt meal times and other social situations whilst photographing herself eating (Eat 22) or noting down the swear words that she uttered (Swear Box 2005). No more introspection and no more using the ‘material’ of her own daily life to generate data and produce artwork.

Following this shock decision, Ellie found herself in a two-year period of limbo – recovering from the demands of data collecting and searching for a new way forward. It was during this period of reflection that she discovered what is known as Hysterical–Historical Praxis Therapy, which was to become the core focus of her recuperation and rehabilitation.

Before Ellie entered as a patient, she confided in me as a fellow artist and peer, confessing that she hoped the therapy would enable her to ‘stop making work about myself and start making work about the world’ and to ‘develop a healthier relationship with my practice and become a better artist’.

Ellie’s decision to quit data collecting was cumulative – provoked by the increasing demands and pressure of each and every project that she undertook. In 2002, she began

At the end of each project, Ellie, consciously or not, appeared to push herself and the possibilities of her data collecting a step further – devising and taking on more and more complex processes. The extreme project Timelines, for which, in the summer of 2006, she attempted to document everything she did 24 hours a day for four weeks, was for Ellie ‘the last straw which pushed me into quitting’.

I have to admit I was a little saddened to hear of Ellie’s announcement. I liked the projects that she had made by collecting data – I admired her work ethic and aspired to be as successful and prolific in my own practice as she was. Many of Ellie’s previous projects seemed to neatly, intelligently and interestingly respond to and reflect upon the world we live in – questioning, perhaps, why it is we feel the need to attempt to create order, define our tasks, analyse our decisions and communicate something about our daily activities to others. My enjoyment of these projects and others Ellie has worked on perhaps reveals my own attraction to and affiliation with ‘futile’ tasks, attempts at order and collections and collations of things that don’t ‘require’ as much attention as they are given.

This book is a document of Ellie’s public ‘dumping’ of data collecting and the rigorous process of therapy which followed this decision. The Hysterical–Historical Praxis Therapy has, as a result, enabled Ellie to begin to discover a new set of interests and concerns, to attempt to find ‘useful’ ways of spending her time and, as the therapist suggests, to become ‘aware of the perils of overproduction, and self-edit accordingly’.

I too am guilty of making work that fits into a similar mode of practice. I too have fallen into the traps of producing work that isn’t up to scratch, because I have stretched myself too thinly or said ‘yes’ to too much. And so it falls to me to consider the possibilities of Hysterical–Historical Praxis Therapy and, attempting to keep an open mind at all times, to try out the suggested methodologies, the proposed solutions, and, as was Ellie’s aim from the beginning, to attempt to develop ‘a healthier and more outward-looking practice’.

Courtesy of Hannah Jones, Ellie Harrison and Plymouth College of Art Press

More information about the book can be found here:
 
www.ellieharrison.com/index.php?pagecolor=9&pageId=project-confessions
 
Confessions of a Recovering Data Collector was published in 2009 by Plymouth College of Art Press.