This is difficult. As time goes on I find it more difficult to narrate this story, to tell this tale of a young maker, the road he walks, the marks he makes, the questions he asks. I find myself bound into a structure of my own making and thus am confounded.  I have no direction, clear thought. I need clarification before I can move on. I too am looking for everything the young maker of the story is seeking.

So, after much deliberation I am going to change tack. I am not going to tell the tale of what is not. I am not going to attempt to explain the world in which the maker lives to make his mark. That world is large, diverse and complicated. A simple tale is not the place for such an examination. Instead I will only refer to that world when actually building the foundations of mutant space; the bricks and mortar of our space. I shall continue to ask questions but, I am not going to make questions the basis of my story. I will, in other words question the reasons for building a mutant space; the whys and wherefores but will not leave it open ended.

This story is about two things; one, about a maker, on a road to find a moment in which his expression, his mark is the perfect manifestation of his being, his perception, his insight to the world about him and two, about a mutant space that seeks to provide a space, skills, tools and resources that support the maker in his endeavours to make that mark.
 
Where to start? It seems I have, many times already. Let’s begin with what I do know. Definitely; mutant space exists because it wants to offer an alternative to the status quo; the direct relationship that exists between the process of making and the regulations, bureaucracy and red tape that define that process of making in the world as it is.
That is to say that the process has been largely co-opted, defined, restrained by the cultural, social and political system in which we live. This system, insidious and deeply rooted as it is has an untold affect on the way we both perceive the world about us and the means by which we look to create, make and process that perception (as I said above, this story is not about the system – another time perhaps).
This relationship is the key to understanding the anatomy of mutant space in that mutant space exists because of my direct experience with the system and the relationship it has with the process of mark making. Therefore I propose to dissect both the reasons for the building of mutant space while at the same time telling the story of our young maker as he travels through a system that seeks to squeeze him into a pre-ordained mould that is within its control. A system he barely sees, registers. A system that refuses to define itself – is deliberately vague and couched in bureau–speak, sound bites, clichés and constant repetition - and when seen, is all things to all people. The young maker cannot possibly understand the implications of what such a system can do to the process of making. It is only through experience that its significance becomes apparent

Let’s start here then. A mould.
Last November I began this series with a brief essay on the maker and the act of mark making. In it I made the following statement,

“To be a maker of marks is not a choice one makes. It just is. Perhaps it is an innate contrariness to the world around you. A questioning of all that is. Just so. There is no plan, no map. There are only those that went before you. For some this is an unfolding nightmare for others an exciting vista that gradually opens up into dreams of possibility”    

This is the foundation rock of all makers, from this innate awareness comes everything thereafter. This certainty allows a maker to delve, to question, to examine, to develop. From then on everything the maker builds on top of it is subject to external influences – this is part of life. As one gets older you come to realise the world is not black and white – it is grey. Compromises and choices, both good and bad are decided upon, dealt with and consequences lived with. As John Lennon once said,

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” 

In other words the road on which the maker set out on gets more difficult to follow, adhere to, as time goes on, as he gets older. The idealism of youth is suppressed in order to deal with the complications that life throws at him. This battle is fought on a cultural ground that is bought, sponsored and developed by the state, media and private enterprise. This battle ground - on which we all must fight on - is often never questioned. Rather it may be truer to say that the question is never even recognised, its existence not acknowledged and if the question doesn’t exist then the battle ground can’t either. And if that is the case then there is no question to be answered, there is no battle to be fought. And why is that? Why is this battle not recognised as such?   

The simple truth is that from any early stage, makers are funnelled into a system that dictates that their success is determined by a number of factors including: state and private funding, media coverage and recognition, celebrity, status and so on. None of these factors have anything to do with the process of mark making. Have anything to do with the fundamental desire within every maker. That is to create a moment that is pure, untainted. That captures within it,

”the entire history of its maker, the experience and story of his life and the generations of life that preceded him. That single mark – expression; a definition, an attempt to clarify, consolidate, all that went on before, all that goes on presently, from which all was to go forth.” 

However, if a young maker sees signs on the road that gives his journey definition, help, assistance, concrete steps towards a life of mark making then it is not surprising that he’ll, at the very least, contemplate taking those steps if it means they’ll enable him to express himself. The decision to follow this road map isn’t so much a once off decision that he can turn back on if it results in a wrong turn to a dead end. Rather it is more like an intricate web. A small decision results in more choice and more choice requires a decision. This decision making process results in the maker being enveloped in a system, not of his own making, that determines the life of his mark making. It is so insidious that after a while the young maker thinks and determines his path according to the choices given by the signs on his road and before long he is on another path. A path that is built on an illusion. An illusion that is now his reality.