#participationinisolation
#participationinisolation was a 30 day performance-a-day challenge during April 2020, set up by @rupidh on Instagram. Rupi Dhillon is studying an MA in Fine Art at Birmingham City University. She describes herself as a multidisciplinary artist and , amongst other things, is interested in participatory performance. We follow one another on Instagram. When I saw this challenge it interested me as she too was looking for ways to facilitate participatory art during the Covid 19 lock down. I decided to take part.
I am a reluctant performer, although quite a few aspects of my work feature performative actions.
I found this challenge extremely difficult at times but it was also another really good focus, and fun as well. I managed one 'performance' a day, except for a day when I was ill. It has really made me think about performance in a new way.
The fact that every action was performed in isolation, or for my partner, who was often my photographer and videographer, was strange. Uploading these quite private videos and photos to a very public virtual platform felt very uncomfortable at times. Some more so than others. It resonated with the other work I was doing at the time - Self and Other - and fitted in well with my research into Habermas' public and private spheres and what I was also reading about the Self and Others (Jung, Butler, Irigaray).
I'm normally quite introverted so making public these actions was hard, but possibly good for me too! In retrospect, I think they reveal quite a poignant perspective on those early days of lock down; many of them seem quite manic and others are a reminder of the strange and isolated weeks of this crisis. They're a daily record of my life during April 2020. They mark time.
I did feel slightly awkward at revealing the weird things I get up to as part of my life and art practice to the world of Instagram. I think they also reveal the inner workings of my mind, what I notice and how I function, which is maybe also rather worrying! I quite often use the hashtag #whatdoartistsdoallday and this series of strange live actions is maybe part of that too. Those first weeks were a roller coaster of emotion, full of fear, contamination anxiety, rage and despair so having to slow down and focus on the minutiae was very meditative and calming. Coming up with an idea for a performative action every day made me very vigilant. Performing them and capturing these actions through videos and photos also provided much needed focus at the time, for which I was very grateful.
It has made me consider live art in more depth, especially the ways perception changes when a performance is experienced live compared to when it is documented. I feel as if the documentation of live art, the video or photo, becomes a very different art form.
It also raises the question of when is a performance a performance? Does it need an audience? Most of my actions for this challenge had no live audience, yet the documentation might have been seen by hundreds, or potentially by millions, via social media. Is live art still live when it becomes a video?
I'm not that keen on many of these records of my actions as works of art in their own right, but I do think that a couple of them capture something interesting. They were all shot with my phone, another curious thing about the 21st century and the ubiquitous camera and video facility in one's pocket. I also learned to use a number of new apps, which was useful. It did make me think of the obsession with selfies and 'over sharing' on social media. I quite often felt as if I were over sharing during April, and it was a mix of being awkward, addictive, fun and funny.
One of the videos was picked up by an advertising agency in LA and I will be paid $400 for it if their clients select it.
All the videos and photos featuring me were taken by my long suffering partner, Dave. They were all taken at home, in the garden or on our daily walks for exercise.
On Day 30, 30th April, I made a composite video of my #participationinisolation performances and here it is:
I am a reluctant performer, although quite a few aspects of my work feature performative actions.
I found this challenge extremely difficult at times but it was also another really good focus, and fun as well. I managed one 'performance' a day, except for a day when I was ill. It has really made me think about performance in a new way.
The fact that every action was performed in isolation, or for my partner, who was often my photographer and videographer, was strange. Uploading these quite private videos and photos to a very public virtual platform felt very uncomfortable at times. Some more so than others. It resonated with the other work I was doing at the time - Self and Other - and fitted in well with my research into Habermas' public and private spheres and what I was also reading about the Self and Others (Jung, Butler, Irigaray).
I'm normally quite introverted so making public these actions was hard, but possibly good for me too! In retrospect, I think they reveal quite a poignant perspective on those early days of lock down; many of them seem quite manic and others are a reminder of the strange and isolated weeks of this crisis. They're a daily record of my life during April 2020. They mark time.
I did feel slightly awkward at revealing the weird things I get up to as part of my life and art practice to the world of Instagram. I think they also reveal the inner workings of my mind, what I notice and how I function, which is maybe also rather worrying! I quite often use the hashtag #whatdoartistsdoallday and this series of strange live actions is maybe part of that too. Those first weeks were a roller coaster of emotion, full of fear, contamination anxiety, rage and despair so having to slow down and focus on the minutiae was very meditative and calming. Coming up with an idea for a performative action every day made me very vigilant. Performing them and capturing these actions through videos and photos also provided much needed focus at the time, for which I was very grateful.
It has made me consider live art in more depth, especially the ways perception changes when a performance is experienced live compared to when it is documented. I feel as if the documentation of live art, the video or photo, becomes a very different art form.
It also raises the question of when is a performance a performance? Does it need an audience? Most of my actions for this challenge had no live audience, yet the documentation might have been seen by hundreds, or potentially by millions, via social media. Is live art still live when it becomes a video?
I'm not that keen on many of these records of my actions as works of art in their own right, but I do think that a couple of them capture something interesting. They were all shot with my phone, another curious thing about the 21st century and the ubiquitous camera and video facility in one's pocket. I also learned to use a number of new apps, which was useful. It did make me think of the obsession with selfies and 'over sharing' on social media. I quite often felt as if I were over sharing during April, and it was a mix of being awkward, addictive, fun and funny.
One of the videos was picked up by an advertising agency in LA and I will be paid $400 for it if their clients select it.
All the videos and photos featuring me were taken by my long suffering partner, Dave. They were all taken at home, in the garden or on our daily walks for exercise.
On Day 30, 30th April, I made a composite video of my #participationinisolation performances and here it is:
Day 30, 30.4.20,
'Grand finale: 30 days of Covid 19 lock down'
Duration: 30 days
Location: At home and out on daily walks
'Grand finale: 30 days of Covid 19 lock down'
Duration: 30 days
Location: At home and out on daily walks
Please click on the links below to watch the videos:
(NB I haven't yet managed to upload all the videos, sadly, but I will after the assessment is done. These give a sense of what I was trying to do)
(NB I haven't yet managed to upload all the videos, sadly, but I will after the assessment is done. These give a sense of what I was trying to do)
Day 12
Day 13
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Day 24
Day 25
Day 26
Day 27
Day 28
Day 29
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