At our site in the art museum, each building has its own environment and focus which stays constant each day. The Collection focuses mainly on educational exhibits for schools, however is adapted to cater to a wider audience range from young children to adults. Because of this, the space is loud, vibrant and full of voices both from the visitors and the sound wall stretching the width of the building. In contrast to this is the Usher Gallery where we intend our performance to be based. The building has the feel of a ‘typical’ art museum set in a beautiful manor house with traditional paintings and artifacts being the central focus. Here, the atmosphere is much more hushed and serious. Even in the room holding more contemporary art, visitors still keep their voices to a whisper whilst the sound of footsteps and music echo through the rooms. In the room holding the paintings, this is particularly amplified with silence feeling naturally expected of you as a visitor.
Bearing in mind this natural urge to be quiet and respectful in the gallery, how would visitors feel when this traditional silence is broken by our performance and what impacts will it leave on the space? Considering the nature of the space we are to work in, as actors we will have to consider, “the possibility of the audience member moving through or past the performance“(Randle, 2001, p86). The nature of a site specific performance means that our audience will be much more involved than with a typical theatre based performance and so will be forced to acknowledge what we are doing and question it. However, considering the kind of people who are attracted to art galleries, I believe they may be open to new ideas about art through performance as when questioned, they are willing to talk about art and don’t shy away from seeing different interpretations of the art surrounding them. Some were interested in what the reality of our focal painting of the Lincoln Brayford would be by stripping away the idealised image. Hopefully when this is put into action, we will leave a lasting impression on the space and change the way in which paintings are viewed by the public. This will reflect Artaud’s idea to “fuse art with life” (Randle, 2001, p86) and also challenge the stereotypes and boundaries of what kinds of ‘art’ can be shown in a traditional gallery.
Randle, J (2001) ‘Theatre for the Interactive Age: Participatory Site-specific Productions’, International Journal of the Arts in Society, April: p83-93