GALLERY 2012

Of late I have been thinking, through my own practice, of the idea of necessity. Works seem to generate most meaning when they come from environments in which they feel necessary.

But sometimes being unnecessary becomes a necessity in itself – and I suspect it is here, when something slightly absurd emerges from a sense of necessity, that Public Demands resides.

Public Demands has been beautifully executed Jason. It is clear the form has been thought through with a sensitivity that strives to illustrate the personal exchanges that have been central to the creation of this work. The website further allows me to enter into the work, despite having not been lucky enough to participate in it directly myself. And it is this kind of extension, the beautiful dispersal and transmission of the project as a form of residue after the initial performance/event that increases its life as a work. That allows it to unfold.

My only hesitation is that the work in itself could become a little formulaic – not in terms of its repetition but in terms of the creative language it employs as a whole. Conceptual, participatory, new media and performative art practices in themselves often adopt form(-ulas) that have become expected and made familiar within certain realms of contemporary cultural practice.

I wonder what form(-ulas) this work could employ so as to move beyond these safer artistic conventions and into a space where there is a greater sense of creative risk.

As you say Public Demands seeks to bridge the divide between the public and the artist, which is an idea in itself loosely based in the common belief that audiences need to be activated and engaged. I wonder if you have ever come across a beautiful essay by Jacques Rancière called The Emancipated Spectator? This has influenced my own work in so many ways. In it Ranciere turns many of our commonly held ideas about audience emancipation on their head, by arguing that the framework through which we have come to understand emancipation in the arts is itself rooted in an allegory of inequality that we need to step outside of in order to move beyond. I would be interested to know if you find anything useful in his thoughts on this subject.

DEMAND #361: WRITE AN INTELLIGENT COMMENT ON YOUR WORK. I always dreamed about "Heinzelmännchen" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinzelmännchen), these little gnomes doing the work for me: "Once upon a time in Cologne, how comfortable it was with the Heinzelmen! For if you were lazy, ... you just lied down on your bench and took care of yourself. Then at night, before one knew it, came the little men and swarmed and clattered and rattled and plucked and picked and jumped and trotted and cleaned and scoured - and even before a lazy bum awoke, all his daily work was ... already done!" And: One of the best performances ever is "Rhythm 0" (1974) by Marina Abramović. Abramović had placed upon a table 72 objects that people were allowed to use in any way that they chose. Some of these were objects that could give pleasure, while others could be wielded to inflict pain, or to harm her. In asking the audience to participate in a piece of art can take a real strong momentum. And I like to integrate the audience in the piece from the beginning. Thumbs up for the courage and the experimental, intimate and democratical approach!