Charlotte Jackman’s performance event Net Works involves a collective untangling of used fishing nets. This work was developed through experience in Vietnam:
"I spent some time staying in a large fishing community. The men would suspend the nets in their living rooms and untangle the nets. The women would supply them with coffee and smokes. It was a race against the tide. I spent time doing this action and the language barrier seemed to open as the space became more primal and born out of a close relation with their surroundings and each other"
The peice is recontextualised with the UK, yet it resonates with the gallery's previous use as a fish factory. As Jackman's first major performance since graduation, a feeling of freeness is felt through the set up and the fragility between time, materials and each other. Net Works offers an alternative social situation which encourages the creation of new relations. Comments over head include 'its so good to be with people just getting on with something unusual'. The participants get caught up in the meditative tasks, involving sizable nets yet micro-actions. Particpants reflect upon the value of communual action in the UK.
