AMERICAN MEDLEY (1981-86)
A tour to 50 places in the USA famed in song
Between August 1981 and August 1982 I visited 50 American places famed in song. At each location I bought a postcard and took a Polaroid photograph. The postcards and Polaroids, with song words written on the back, were mailed 'home' to be places in a window display in Delaney's 'American style' restaurant in Belfast, where I had installed a jukebox containing the 50 appropriate records. Visitors to Delaney's could therefore compare impressions of the American places from the mythology of the songs, the official images on the postcards and my personal impressions captured in the Polaroids. In some cases the 3 sources might reinforce each other whilst sometimes they could conflict and contradict.
In order to tour the work in the UK and the USA a display system was designed to allow viewers to rotate the framed double image of the postcard and Polaroid and read the song words on the other side. The display system would be installed adjacent to a jukebox containing the 50 records and when the work showed in arts centers it was located in the café or restaurant area so that the jukebox was fully functional.
Ultimately I devised a performance/video version of the work, using the postcards and Polaroid images as backdrops to a singing tour of the USA.