I was asked to plan and curate an art gallery stall at a local teenage market in July 2012.

This experience has the essence of what I am trying to achieve within the project - creating a mobile art space. Perhaps not quite so literal as a 'gallery space', but I do like the idea of temporary white walls of the gallery space in a different setting and away from the usual or expected places. Art in a market hall - different crowds and perceptions of what art is.

This stall was great - and it was fun to be there all day, talking to people and putting together the work for it. Considering what sort of work would be suitable and saleable in such a setting, as well as considering the pratical side of the work suriving the moving around. However, it was a lot of work - as it is with any market stall I imagine.

I'm not sure many shoppers know how much work goes into setting up a stall - making it right for people to be intrigued enough to stop, hopefully buy while being easy enough for you to manage.

The best stalls make their presence know - they have a space that you know they are in; bright, bold and perhaps quite noisy with cries of what they are selling. They become small worlds themselves - you have to set your stall out when working with people in different settings and this is where it comes from. A defined space that starts and ends, but is fleeting and easily broken down, but does exist. It might not be noticeable what components anchor it to that point, but a sense of space is present.

I think this is why I've never really been interested in craft fairs - as you have to be there all day and look polite enough to be inviting to potential customers. So you can't really be 'working' while you sit there as you look uninterested, but then I can't help but feel people are wasting their time just sat there. I'm not one for sitting still anyway, but that doesn't quite feel the best use of my time - plus I would have to make something to sell- and I would probably be upset if it did sell and the same again if it didn't. An emotional minefield really.

It's interesting in a way how the 'market stall' has been around for centuries, with numerous generations feeling that wax and wane of crowds of people coming and going, the change of time passing throughout the day and then the inevitable chore of packing up. But there isn't a real sense of an ordered visual language with market stalls that has been passed down through time. We like order and an expected protocol for business, but it's interesting how stalls can be still so unique every time there is an opportunity for business. I think that adds to the sense of occasion and immediacy. Like carnivals and fayres, it must have been even more so in days gone by with set market days or events/festivals in the year. Whole fortunes made or lost in a day...

I'm told my ancestors were market stall holders in 1901 - perhaps it's in my blood!