Framing Statement
Our site performance, ‘Voicing the Untold’ is a response to the artworks in the Usher gallery. There are many artworks of women or the female body in the gallery and not one has been created by a woman, all have been created by male artists. Our performance is; Kirsty Rice, Anisha Bradley and I standing on plinths around gallery 6, we will read from scripts we have each created, written from the perspective of the models that are in the artworks. These women were repeatedly referred to as ‘figures’ and were not seen as anything more, we are going to tell the untold stories of these models that were once present in this gallery, highlighting the women’s reflections on being a woman, and being sketched. We aim to tell their secret lives to the pubic so instead of admiring the models for their appearances alone the public begin to know the models on a deeper level.
I took inspiration from feminist writers such as Luce Irigaray and Helen Cixous; who write about how women are perceived in literature and art. I have also profusely researched The Guerrilla Girls; who campaign about the lack of women artists being exhibited in galleries around the world, and also took inspiration from some of the women who were models in the artworks.
We decided to perform in gallery 6 as from the 10th January to 30th March, an exhibition was in that gallery called ‘Modern Masters’. The exhibition was of Dali, Matisse, Warhol and Picasso’s work, the majority of the artwork presented was of women. We decided to perform in this room where the women were exhibited, and we are telling the stories from where they once hung. Our performance duration is 1 hour as we did not want to performance to become repetitive and to lose the intensity the performance carried.
Comprehending how the term Site Specific was defined was a struggle initially as it is broad. Nick Kaye defines site specific as: ‘Articulate exchanges between work of art and the places in which its meanings are defined’ (Pearson, 2010, p.7). Site specific performance is about the location and the performance connecting together; ‘the location can work as a potent mnemonic trigger; helping to evoke specific past times related to the place and time of performance and facilitating a negotiation between the meaning of those times’ (Pearson, 2010, p. 9). We began to focus heavily on our location of our site and specifically the collections within the gallery. Initially we explored into the curators and how the artwork or collections are interpreted and received by the public. An opening task was to bring a collection and explore the interpretation of it, I curated my card collection and the exercise enabled me to see how a collection can be interpreted differently depending how it is presented to the public.
Another introductory task we were given were instructions from Carl Lavery’s article ‘Teaching Performance Studies: 25 instructions for performance in cities’, I chose: ‘take photos of ten buildings that fill you with inconsolable sadness’. The tasks aimed to ‘see performance as something that resists categorization, something that is not-theatre… something that allows you to do what you want’ (Lavery, p.233-4). The task permitted me to realise there are little boundaries to site specific performance and also value what instructions can enable one to become more aware of something they may have before totally overlooked. ‘Work can be made out of anything: there is no need for an audience or stage; and sometimes the performance will only exist through its documentation (Lavery, 2005, p.233).
Analysis of Process
Influences
We were given a task from Ally to respond to an artwork in the Usher gallery through any textual style. I chose the sketch, ‘The Little Reader’ by Henri Matisse and wrote from the perspective of the female, disclosing her negative feelings regarding Matisse. We presented the writings in small groups, Anisha, Kristy and I had each coincidently created texts about women being exploited for their appearances and the expectations of women. We presented our work in Gallery 6 which held the exhibition; Modern Master’s, where majority of the artworks were female figures. Kaye stated, ‘documentation foregrounds its own limits’, suggesting the way a performance is documented and presented to an audience has no limits, creating a textual response to the artwork and displaying it to the public would convey a unique response to the artworks in the exhibition.
A gallery is perceived as a respected and trusted venue where the public believe what the gallery presents, but I consider there are questions within the artwork to be explored, however I am not suggesting one should be told how many times James Usher used the tea cups and saucers or where the artwork was hung. ‘While [artworks] are conserved, preserved and secured for posterity to dialogue, with history to expose, examine and critique cultural codes’ (Garoian, 2001, p.4). I believe artwork should be investigated; the audience should create their own stories within artwork and they should be presented. ‘Performing in the museum is a dialogic process, a play between the public narratives of the museum and the private narrative of the viewer’ (Garoian, 2001, p.7). As a group we will reflect on certain artworks exhibited of women, in the gallery, where we hope that dialogue will convey a deeper meaning to the artwork that may have not previously occurred to the viewing public.
Every object or artwork in the Usher gallery has a story behind it waiting to be told, Usher created paintings of his collections in cabinets conveying how they were presented in his home. ‘Museums write and perform historical script through their collections and exhibitions’ (Garoian, 2001, p.4). We wanted to explore these historical scripts and artworks in The Usher Gallery. If we became the artwork and told the stories we could potentially transform the artworks into something that engages the public and converting them into an audience; ‘…Urging audiences to consider what it means to be here, now, whenever and wherever here may be (Keidan, 2006, p.12).
‘Live art is one of the most vibrant and influential of creative approaches in the United Kingdom… to open up new artist models, new languages for the representation of ideas, new ways of activating audiences and new strategies for intervening in public life (Keidan, 2006, p. 9). The artworks all have a story that we hope to convey as they are presented with little information to the public. ‘Live art can offer a place, a context and a process in which audiences can become involved or immersed in the creation of artworks’ (Keidan, 2006, p. 14). We decided to retell the stories and make ourselves into works of art. We did not want to become the original artwork but use our own creative stories and research to present the lives of the models because the artworks were not to be re made but we wanted to convey a different opinion which could be inspired from the model’s perspective.
We researched into Antony Gormley’s project; One and Other, where the fourth plinth is occupied by the public for 100 succeeding days. We took inspiration from this to each stand on a plinth to read our performative texts. ‘The idea is very simple. Through putting a person onto the plinth, the body becomes a metaphor, a symbol’ (Gormley, 2009). Separating ourselves from the public it allowed the reflections to not be influenced by society, as though being on the plinth the reflections could be exactly what the women wanted to convey. Gormely stated that the plinth was somewhere were anything could happen; ‘an open space for open mind’ (Gormley, 2009).
Nina Simon’s book: The Participatory Museum (2010) focuses on questions that communicate with the public and interact with the performance. Simon states, ‘When visitors encounter surprising design choices… it raises questions in their minds.’ We hope to engage an audience and trigger response that previously would not have been thought of due to the restrictions a gallery or museum have. ‘Personal questions help visitors connect their own experience to the object displayed, speculative questions ask visitors to imagine scenarios involving objects or ideas that are foreign to their experience’ (Simon, 2010). In our performance we want to highlight both types of questions, we want to ask the questions through our performance and not directly, leaving the audience to walk away asking themselves new questions and creating discussions about how women are presented in galleries but also on a more personal level, we want the public to reflect upon their own experiences with the representation of women. We hope to create a performance the raises personal and speculative questions in the public and audiences minds. The women’s reflections we re- tell to the public should trigger questions about how women are perceived in galleries and in society.
The feminist campaigners The Guerrilla Girls campaign about the lack of women artists being shown in galleries compared to the high number of women being works of art. They question why there are so many women as artworks which are a main aspect of my textual response. The Guerrilla Girls use society and current issues as their reasoning for their actions: ‘many people believe that art is special and exempt from conventional scrutiny. While art may be transcendent, the art world should be subject to the same standards as anywhere else’ (Guerrilla Girls, 1995 p.22). The Guerrilla Girls use the gallery location as a basis for their evidence that women have been exploited. As I convey the women’s views in my performative texts, I speak from their point of view to ask the questions; ‘questions can create new connections between people and objects or people and each other’ (Simon, 2010). Simon’s view that questions can uncover something that would not have been explored without asking questions to a public led me to create my performative writings with questions constantly running through them, thus to encourage an audience to spark new thoughts or thoughts that had previously not been voice about the representation of women in a gallery.
The Performative Writing
During the writing and rehearsal process I became aware the performance could become tedious as there was not anything visual to obtain an audience as gallery 6 was a blacked room, therefore we felt our textual responses needed to be engaging. I researched into Tim Etchell’s ‘Certain fragments’; I found it would be very useful to apply some of the techniques Etchells’ suggests. I decided to create levels within my text; I incorporated passages of text written as if I was telling a secret to engage an audience. I also have written authoritative styles of text to convey the strength of the women.
The Modern Masters exhibition where Henri Matisse’s work is displayed has numerous nude sketches. Matisse was transfixed with the female body; ‘What interests me most is neither still life nor landscape but the human figure’ (Modern Masters, 2014). One of the descriptions the Usher gallery have written about the sketch Little Aurora; a nude sketch is; ‘Trust and familiarity were key to Matisse successful collaboration with his models. He observed that an artist should possess almost total kinship with his muse’ (Saunders, 2014). This suggests the kind of relationship Matisse had with his models and I intend on researching further into this relationship Matisse had with the models and in particular Antoinette Arnoud who appears numerous times. I hope to convey in my performative text the reflections and responses to his art and the way women are portrayed in art along with the personal reflections from the models experiences with Matisse. As there was little information published on any of Matisse’s models, this enabled me tell the stories that the models were not permitted to tell. I will integrate the facts I have found on the models with the creative stories. ‘ Antoinette Arnoud was 19 years old pale, slender and supple with quintessential urban indoor chic and the kind of responsive intelligence Matisse required at this point from a model’ (Spruling, 2005, p.223).
The Guerrilla Girls main concept was campaigning about the representation of females in galleries, I wanted to incorporate some quotes from them so my writings to highlight the facts within the creative responses. ‘If a masterpiece can be made only by a master and a master is defined as a man having control or authority, you can see what we’re up against. The word ‘Genius’ is related to the Latin word for testicles. Maybe that explains why it’s so rarely used to describe a woman’ (Guerrilla Girls, 1995, p.22).
After researching Irigaray’s perspective upon art and literature of women, she deconstructs the responses and messages that are illustrated. I am going to use quotes from Irigaray and connect them with the reflections I will write from the models point of view towards how Matisse exploits the human figure and makes it an object. Margaret Whitford quoted Luce Irigaray stating: ‘The masculine is not prepared to share the initiative of discourse. It prefers to experiment with speaking, writing, enjoying woman’ (Whitford, 1991).
During creating the performative writings, the opinions I researched and created suggested women are being objectified by Henry Matisse and consequently by the gallery. Feminist Perspectives on Objectifications by Papadaki, enabled me to explore the social implications of women being objectified and the role of a man within this. It suggests women accept they are seen as objects from men. ‘Women in patriarchal societies feel constantly watched by men… and they feel the need to look sensually pleasing to men’ (Papadaki, 2012). These writings helped me to articulate what being objectified means from a feminist view point in my writings. Moreover, Papadaki quotes on Langton on communicating why the models accepted the object state. ‘Women become submissive and object like because of men’s desires and beliefs’ (Papadaki, 2012). The world conforms to male beliefs and understandings hence why women accept the object state and the world portrays it that way.
Technical Rehearsal
The technical rehearsal was the first time we had seen the new exhibition that replaced the ‘Modern Masters’. The gallery room which previously exhibited many sketches of the female body now hung a large white screen where a repetitive video of a male getting in and out of a truck while moving was played in slow motion. The masculinity could be sensed immediately when in the room as the video summed up the power of a male. This was an incredible contrast to the atmosphere previously; the room held sketches of female’s bodies, and did not have a positive. After much deliberation we decided to not have the video on during our performance as we wanted to have a strong impact of the women’s reflections and felt that keeping it simple showed the power the writings held. After rehearsing standing on the 3 plinths, we wanted to convey the lack of freedom the women had. We decided to line over 30 lipsticks underneath the length of the screen and once we had finished a page of writing and screwed it up we would apply the lipstick and return to our plinth.
Voicing the Untold from Wills, M (2014).
This action was to convey how there was no escaping and what we were telling for the public to hear was not changing anything. Applying the lipstick would highlight how women need to fit into an image and there was no way of escaping, the excessive lipstick being applied throughout the performance becomes uncomfortable for the audience listening to the despair of the women and the striking lipstick smothering our faces.
Evaluation of Performance
We performed two one hour sessions as the Australian outback exhibition could not be turned off all day. Our first performance at 10-11am started very quiet we intended on trying to encouraging an audience but this proved to be difficult as the gallery did not open until 10 when our performance started, therefore we had to wait for the public to make their way up to gallery 6. The atmosphere in the gallery was intense as our words echoed around the first floor of the gallery creating an abnormal environment. As there were only a few people in the gallery we found ourselves speaking to the walls in our room; ‘a place owes it character to the experiences it affords to those who spend time there – to the sights, sounds… that constitutes its specific ambience’ (Pearson’s, 2010, p. 15). It was a poignant moment on the plinths telling the stories of the females who had previously hung in the same room and as there was nobody watching us, it proved our point that there was little interest in the public knowing the stories and more interest in their bodies.
The second performance at 1-2pm was opposed the preliminary. We were aware our appearances were striking as we all had the same hair and in long black dresses. In the half an hour before our performance was due to start; We stood in silence and proceeded around the entire gallery gazing at the female artworks in unison to make the public aware of us.
Voicing the Untold from Walsh, A (2014).
We then proceeded to our gallery room, opened the gallery door and began our performance. The public stared as we moved around the Usher at us the same as they we relooking at the other artworks. I was unaware of how many audience members watched our performance but the room felt a lot smaller and I felt I was telling someone my story which they were attentively listening to.
One male audience member who spoke to us afterwards said he had watched the whole performance, stated the visual presentation using the lipsticks and the layout was very professional and had a strong impact. The visual aspect was something we were concerned about so this was very pleasing.
Voicing the Untold from Wills, M (2014).
There were not any significant challenges we had to overcome apart from knowing when our hour was up as we had no aspect of time in the gallery. However Demi opened the partitioning doors between the gallery spaces to signify that our performance was coming to an end and hers was starting. We had to rely on Demi to be punctual as we had no aspect of time so was dependent on our instincts to how long we had been performing in relation to how much script we had got through.
A significant moment which could have become an issue was a little girl who watched our performance came and applied the lipsticks which was an iconic image as she was copying what we had been doing showing she was fitting in to the stereotype of applying the make-up. However we were apprehensive at what she was going to in case she knocked over the lipsticks or removed them. If we were to improve any aspect of our performance I would make an emphasis on the spectacle of the lipsticks so it was visually stroking and clear it was part of the performance.
Pavis states in Site specific Performance, ‘[site specific] places the audience at an entirely different relationship to the text, the place and purpose of being there’ (Pearson, 2010, p. 7). Our performance was successful in showing a new aspect to the gallery, gallery 6 previously showed the female form and the public observed like any other artwork, however we highlighted that the females have stories and opinions and in our performance an audience listened to the women’s reflections, thus conveying artworks have deeper meanings that are open to be explored and the public are willing to hear these reflections if given them.
Voicing the Untold from Walsh, A (2014).
Works Cited
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Geurrilla Girls (1995) Confessions of Geurilla Girls. London: Pandora.
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Levine, A. (2013) Being a thing: The Work of Performing in the Museum. London: Routledge.
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The Usher Gallery, 2014, Modern Masters exhibition January 2014-30th March 2014, Lincoln: The Usher Gallery.
Whitford, Margaret, 1991, Luce Irigaray: Philosophy in Feminism, London, Routledge.