In order to engage fully with any artistic or creative institution such as the theatre, an art gallery or a museum, one must take into account and to an extent, project their own personal experiences, interpretations and cultural histories on to both the site as a whole as well as each individual object that is present within the site. To simply view but not to critic is to fall victim to the hegemony of the institution, to merely accept one view point as “the truth” and to become simply a viewer of art and culture as opposed to a participant. By considering our own personal and cultural histories, we can begin to “challenge the dominant speech codes” (Garoian 2001, pp238) allowing a more creative, diverse and collaborative interaction between “us” the participants and “them” the institutions.
One performance which relies on the participation of audience members is Wrights & Sites “An Exeter Misguide”. Although the site of this performance is not within a museum or art gallery, the use of a guidebook which creates a state of equilibrium between factual histories as well as “fictional, fanciful, fragile and personal” (Wrights & Sites, 2003) allows the participant to consider their own opinions on the significance of place. Furthermore, by helping to reveal an “unknown side of their city” to the participants, their own psychogeographical map of the city may be radically changed after being exposed to perspectives different to their own. This could then lead the participants into questioning who decides which parts of a city are deemed as “significant” or “important” and why the “hidden” parts of the city are dismissed from the public consciousness.
Works Cited
Garoian, Charles R (2011) Studies in Art Education, Vol. 42, No. 3. (Spring, 2001), pp. 234-248.
Wrights & Sites (2003) An Exeter Misguide. Available online: http://www.mis-guide.com/ws/archive/exetermg.html [Accessed 03/04/2014]