{"id":910,"date":"2022-09-23T14:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/?p=910"},"modified":"2025-06-18T15:23:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T14:23:57","slug":"working-with-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/?p=910","title":{"rendered":"Working With Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-duotone-unset-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/3-1024x683.png\" alt=\"A webcam shot of light skinned hairy figure wearing a black vest is on webcam. Their face and part of their body is obscured by a portrait phone image overlaid of a vivid fire at nighttime.\" class=\"wp-image-912\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/3-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/3-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/3-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/3.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In 2022, I took part in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.filmuniversitaet.de\/artikel\/detail\/masterclass-artistic-research-2022-working-with-waste\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Masterclass Artistic Research: Working With Waste<\/a> at Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, led by artists Lucy Beech and James Richards; with invited guests and mentors Simon Werrett, Elsa Richardson, Mary Maggie, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Dr. Alex Blanchette, Jenna Sutela, and Riar Rizaldi. The hybrid programme invited participants to explore expanded definitions of waste and its potential as material, methodology, and metaphor. My contribution was rooted in early research for my practice-based PhD, which focuses on queer intergenerational mutual aid, the cultural value of true crime, and embodiment in filmmaking\u2014particularly in relation to the 2016 fire that destroyed Steam Sauna Complex, a queer sex space housed in a former bingo hall in West Yorkshire.<br><br>I presented a pre-recorded performance to webcam in which I read a script while taking poppers, gradually becoming intoxicated and visibly flushed\u2014interrupting my ability to complete the performance. I then developed this into a collaged video using scraps of unused footage, digital ephemera, and fragments of text. This piece explored bodily waste (sperm, sweat), wasted time (altered states, queer sex, poppers trainers), and traces\u2014both physical and digital\u2014as potential sites of cultural meaning. Through a mix of camp, sincerity, and research-driven poetics, I asked: What can a piss stain or an expired phone number on a cubicle wall reveal? How might \u201cwaste\u201d offer alternative ways of understanding bodies, memory, and space? The work played with failure, uncertainty, and the idea that being in the waste\u2014refusing sanitisation\u2014can itself be generative, though perhaps not always comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-duotone-unset-2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m27s679-1024x683.png\" alt=\"A webcam shot of light skinned hairy figure wearing a black vest is on webcam. Their face and part of their body is obscured by a still of text on a black bar ground reading in white \u2018INHALE ON HIT HOLD BREATH ON HOLD EXHALE ON RELEASE\u2019; in yellow \u2018USE POPPERS ON YOUR OWN RISK!\u2019; in red \u2018CREATED BY BerlinBoy2018\u2019; and then white again \u201924.06.2018\u2019.\" class=\"wp-image-913\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m27s679-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m27s679-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m27s679-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m27s679.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-duotone-unset-3\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m18s543-1024x683.png\" alt=\"A webcam shot of light skinned hairy figure male presenting person with a shaved head and blue eyes wearing a black vest. They are illuminated by a screen, and their hand closes one nostril while holding a bottle of poppers to the other nostril.\" class=\"wp-image-915\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m18s543-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m18s543-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m18s543-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/vlcsnap-2025-04-16-20h22m18s543.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2022, I took part in the Masterclass Artistic Research: Working With Waste at Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, led by artists Lucy Beech and James Richards; with invited guests and mentors Simon Werrett, Elsa Richardson, Mary Maggie, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Dr. Alex Blanchette, Jenna Sutela, and Riar Rizaldi. The hybrid programme invited participants to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-event","tag-28"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=910"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":916,"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910\/revisions\/916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewparkin.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}