Participant Jennifer Katherine Shields reflects on Workshop #2

In the second workshop of the Performance Art and Identity series, we went over some practical aspects of creating a performance piece - specifically, site, its physical constraints and conceptual influences.

Using a public empty space in the CBD of Ōtautahi carries with it a lot of tensions and conceptual weight, and ties into the identity of all the performers as young people with connections to Ōtautahi in one way or other. Art has played a significant part in the revitalisation of the city, especially the inner city. It has been a constant yet shifting presence within the CBD since the quakes, alongside constantly present yet shifting construction, roadworks, and road blocks.

We focussed quite heavily on what creating a work to be performed in public, for the public means - looking at relational aesthetics and other artists who create works that give back to the public or their communities, instead of just creating a work in a studio or gallery and suddenly dropping it in a public space. I brought up Rirkrit Tiravanija and his series of works starting with Pad Thai in 1990, in which he eschewed a typical exhibition to set up a kitchen and feed the public. We also mentioned D.A.N.C.E. Art Club and Whau the People closer to home, both collectives who are intensively concerned with community and public art that gives back - via facepainting, feeding, creating a roaming radio station in the back of a truck, or an arts and culture festival exclusively showing artists and creatives from the local community, and many other ways. A similar work that comes to mind in terms of ‘giving back’ is the Crossing the Bridge exhibition and film based out in Ashburton; a project that created tangible difference in the lives of migrants to the area within the space of a few months - one participant mentioned walking down the street and being essentially ignored, not wanting a friend, just a hello; and that since the exhibition opened people began to approach her and chat, ask how she was.

We discussed amongst ourselves our desire to not just create another piece of distanced, exclusive art - something that people in the art world would ‘get’ but would have little impact or interest to the public. We discussed how performance art as a medium is often the worst culprit when it comes to exclusivity and complexity, and our desire to create a performance that is more open, more accessible, more interactive. D.A.N.C.E. Art Club’s longest straight DJ session world record attempt provided a good example here - a piece of art that the audience and community didn’t need a degree to get; a work that didn’t need to be ‘got’ at all and could be enjoyed, interacted with, participated in regardless of who you were and what your background was. The work drew volunteers from multiple communities ranging from the Auckland student art scene and Artspace’s audience (typically older, wealthier, whiter, collectors and dealers and ‘professional’ artists) to  D.A.N.C.E. Art Club’s community and church groups - tightly-knit Pasifika communities, communities that Artspace’s typical marketing did not reach. They created a work that drew from various communities and allowed everyone within those communities to engage with the work. 

That seems like a really valid goal for this workshop series - to create a piece that people can enjoy and interact with, no matter who they are.