Author: Jennie Chapman

The Collection promotes Art and Archaeology in Lincolnshire. It is run by Lincolnshire County Council and this purpose built building opened in 2005, alongside the already well- established Usher Gallery which opened in 1927. By the time the new building was finished The Collection had over 2 million objects already collected and is ever increasing. It has become even more popular over the past few years with its visitor numbers increasing by over 50,000 in total.

Visiting The Collection as a member of the public enabled us to examine and discover the space, The main exhibition focuses on the history and archaeological artifacts found in Lincolnshire. It is a very interactive and modern museum that invites people to explore the space with its angular and irregular architecture. Whilst exploring The Collection for the first time, I did not think of myself as a member of the public visiting the museum but as a ‘professional stranger’ to the space. Govan states that “the stranger’s perspective may result in the space itself appearing strange to the spectators as the visiting artist offers up new understandings of the location and practices within the site” (2007, p 122).

    

 

There are many differences between The Collection and The Usher Gallery, comparing their architecture, style, shape and most importantly, I think, their atmosphere. The Collection itself is wide and open with plenty of space to walk around, unlike the Usher Gallery which is much smaller in size and enclosed. Although The Collection is much newer in terms of establishment the two styles of the buildings is very different. The Usher Gallery maintains the notion that art galleries  are associated with the upper class with its traditional, formal style where as The Collection Museum is much more modern in terms of its architecture and its interactive technology. The atmosphere in the Usher seemed to be more intimidating as it was so quiet and formal unlike The Collection which was noisy due to the café, children’s play area and sound wall.

Eventually we took our research to the café in the museum. Thinking about the observations made from the museum and gallery, we realised how the café was positioned in relation to the main part of the museum, off to the side, not only because people by pass it on the way into The Collection but also the architecture has purposefully separated the café from the rest of the Museum.

So why is our chosen site a museum? At first look a museum already has a lot of things to observe and inform us, how can we use this museum for a performance? What do a museum and performance have in common with each other?

“Performance and archaeology are social practices, or modes of cultural production, and social practice has performative and archaeological dimensions”

“The special practice that is performance operates in a liminal space or heterotopia. Archaeology too is at the edge and in the gaps, working on discard and decay, entrophy and loss. Its topic of the material and ineffable immediacy of the past has given it a special place in constructions of personal and cultural identity”

“It is in these liminal spaces and with these heterogeneous elements that both archaeology and performance work and negotiate identities, of people and things” (Pearson and Shanks, 2001, p53-54).

 

Works Cited:

Lincolnshire County Council, 2013, The Collection. [online] Available at: http://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/ [Accessed on 28^th March 2013]

The Collection, 2012. The Collection Profile Provision Performance 2012-13. Lincoln: The Collection.

Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, London: Routledge.

Pearson, Mike and Michael Shanks (2001) Theatre/Archaeology, London: Routledge.

Site Specific Performance; it seems self explanatory if you break it down into three separate words and look at their definitions. However, a deeper meaning to these words is required to truly understand the concept and purpose of Site Specific Performance.

What is ‘site’? – According to Nick Kaye ‘The site, it follows, is not available as an ‘object’, for it is not static, the site is mobile, always in a process of appearance or disappearance’ (Kaye, 2000, p96). In other words ‘site’ is always in action and has action in it. Another way of looking at it is that ‘site’ is a combination of space and place, an event and is on going; changing, evolving.

This leads me to the difference between ‘space’ and ‘place’. If we look at Peter Brook’s book The Empty Space, he said that “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage’ (Brook, 2008,  p11). This is precisely what ‘space’ is; empty, neutral, undefined. Its function is to be occupied. ‘Place’ on the other hand, suggests history, society and significance.

‘The notion of place has traditionally been understood ‘externally’ as a geographic, anthropologic, economic or political site, as opposed to ‘internally’ as a disembodied space in terms of psychoanalysis, memory or philosophy’ (Rugg, and Sedgwick, 2007, p48).

What is ‘specific’?

In this case of ‘site- specific’, it means that the artists involved draw upon something connected to the site and respond to it. That ‘specific’ is collaborated and inspired by the site.

What is ‘performance’?

Performance as opposed to theatre and drama is unlimited, it can take any form. It involves awareness and the conscious becomes performative.  So why is performance different to Theatre? A simple answer to this question is that there is no set form with performance. It allows us to explore and experiment without limitations where as theatre has limits. Site specific performance is a dialogue between the site and the artist/performer which enables us to use not only the visual but also the people in that site. It also allows performers to intervene in life through the changing nature of society and reach a broader audience.

So, overall, Site Specific Performance is a performance inspired by something in particular at a particular site. Why? It has become a contemporary practice ‘which put creative and often critical work in unusual sites in order to ask questions about these sites and the ways people behave in them’ (Allain, and Harvie, 2006, p149). It also ‘offers spectators new perspectives upon a particular site or set of sites’ (Govan, Nicholson and Normington, 2007, p121).

To begin our journey on this module we have looked at some inspiring Site Specific work. For example Stephen Koplowitz and TaskForce UK have completed many projects in different sites around the UK. In particular this piece ‘Liquid Landscapes’ (2009) below:

With inspirational pieces of work such as this, we will focus on the development and experimentation for our final performances.

 

Works Cited:

Allain, Paul and Jen, Harvie (2006) The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance, London: Routledge.

Brook, Peter (2008) The Empty Space, London: Penguin.

Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, London: Routledge.

Kaye, Nick (2000) Site Specific Art: Performance, Place and Documentation, London: Routledge.

Rugg, Judith and Michele Sedgwick (ed.) (2007) Issues in Curating Contemporary Art and Performance, Bristol: Intellect Books.

DartingtonTV, 2009, Stephen Kopolowitz: TaskForce UK Chapter 6 (Site specific Dance) Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwiPzI-OQUA [Accessed on: 21st January 2013]