After my tape experimentation, I decided to try the tape inside of a tape cassette. I liked it better than the electrical tape but it still wasn’t quite right. It also had other connotations about old music formats, not just the relationship between the object and time.
I decided to try out string which I wrapped around the record for 2 minutes 42 seconds and it looked exactly how I wanted. The string wins! There was a thickness to it, so you could see each individual strand and the contrast of the cream string against the black vinyl worked. I thought about what this would be as a stand-alone piece. It seemed effortless. I decided to make a second piece, for the amount of time the average length was of the top 10 selling albums – 47 minutes.
I failed in two attempts as I would get to about 20 minutes and the string would start slipping and then unravelling. It is one of the most frustrating ways to lose time. After the second time I vowed to give up, but Al talked me round. I went back into the kitchen where Heart FM was playing the same songs they had an hour ago. I took a deep breath and it came to me: I needed to use pegs to stop the slipping. I then proceeded to wrap string around the record for 47 minutes. It hurt but I was so happy once it was finished. Just got to think about how to display them now.
