29.12.20 Situation and provocation
I am very conscious that the setting for an art work can, in itself, be a provocation. For this reason, I am always interested in installing my work in unexpected places. I have researched, reflected extensively and show examples of some of my recent work, as part of MF7002, on Site-responsiveness. In 2018 I blogged about Art in unexpected places? on my website too. .
I have been thinking in depth about how to still show work and facilitate socially engaged installations when art galleries are closed and opportunities are cancelled. Situating my Wishing trees in very public spaces worked really well. I started with the metal cage that the council had put around a young silver birch tree outside my house. It's on public land, but close enough for me to see from my front room; maybe safe, on the threshold of public and private spaces? It wasn't until I 'planted' the Wishing trees in much more public, green spaces further from my home that I began to get antagonistic responses. I have reflected on that in the documentation of the Wishing trees that I made in May 2020, p 154 and also in Participatory art: critical theory and reflections.
At the time, from March to May 2020, I also researched Public and private spheres, specifically in relation to politics and feminism - looking at Habermas' public/private spheres, Ranciere's the politics of aesthetics and Parker's femininities associated with the public and the private. It's clear that all of these theories apply to the issue of where art is situated.
Both green spaces were urban land, belonging to the Council, so I did wonder whether I might have complaints from someone official, or if they would take everything down. The Wishing tree at Purdown was in fact removed by someone else, inn September 2020 sometime, I think, and I still don't know who!
It does make me think about where else I could install my art. I have been wondering about somewhere more urban, maybe in bus stops or lamp posts or maybe derelict buildings? But what would it be and how long would it last? I am reluctant to be accused of littering again, and I'm not so keen on the associations with yarnbombing or knit graffiti. I'd rather it were transgressive, maybe more akin to authentic graffiti. I obviously need to think further about all this.
I have been thinking in depth about how to still show work and facilitate socially engaged installations when art galleries are closed and opportunities are cancelled. Situating my Wishing trees in very public spaces worked really well. I started with the metal cage that the council had put around a young silver birch tree outside my house. It's on public land, but close enough for me to see from my front room; maybe safe, on the threshold of public and private spaces? It wasn't until I 'planted' the Wishing trees in much more public, green spaces further from my home that I began to get antagonistic responses. I have reflected on that in the documentation of the Wishing trees that I made in May 2020, p 154 and also in Participatory art: critical theory and reflections.
At the time, from March to May 2020, I also researched Public and private spheres, specifically in relation to politics and feminism - looking at Habermas' public/private spheres, Ranciere's the politics of aesthetics and Parker's femininities associated with the public and the private. It's clear that all of these theories apply to the issue of where art is situated.
Both green spaces were urban land, belonging to the Council, so I did wonder whether I might have complaints from someone official, or if they would take everything down. The Wishing tree at Purdown was in fact removed by someone else, inn September 2020 sometime, I think, and I still don't know who!
It does make me think about where else I could install my art. I have been wondering about somewhere more urban, maybe in bus stops or lamp posts or maybe derelict buildings? But what would it be and how long would it last? I am reluctant to be accused of littering again, and I'm not so keen on the associations with yarnbombing or knit graffiti. I'd rather it were transgressive, maybe more akin to authentic graffiti. I obviously need to think further about all this.