Evaluation – Page 3 – The Collection Of…

Our assessment.

Francesca Maria Izzo / May 7, 2013May 13, 2013 / Evaluation, People, Public Responses

Our final performance started with panic and worry as the weather in the morning leading up to our performance in the afternoon, was pouring with rain. As our performance was outside it would mean standing and sitting in the rain for two hours and potentially result in no audience members. Luckily however, when we began performing at 12pm, the rain stopped and the sun came out bringing audiences members with it. My role involved standing on a platform in the entrance of the outside seating area with a plinth and chalkboard informing the visitors of our outside cafe exhibition and inviting them to come and have a look:

My role involved speaking quotes I had recorded from the staff members in the cafe. As a majority of the quotes were questions, I decided to say the quotes when visitors walked past or stood and looked at me, to create an interaction with them and highlight the staff members interaction and communication with the customers. As I was asking rhetorical questions and not looking at the visitors when I spoke to them, the reactions I got varied from person to person. For instance, some people looked at me but chose to ignore me, some replied to my questions with their own answers and some avoided walking near me and looking at me to prevent interaction. These observations were similar to the observations my group and I had made of the customers in the cafe. Even though a lot of the passers by acknowledged me and showed an interest there were a few who didn’t want to associate themselves with something unordinary. Like an earlier prediction I made in an earlier blog post, I mentioned we would get interest from children. This happened with a little girl who saw me and when I spoke and repeated questions when they walked past she questioned her family, repeatedly asking them if i was real. This made me think, as I was not acting like a normal person and was just stood still, she thought I was a robot or a statue as I was acting in a conventional, normal way. Children were also interested in the other areas of our performance such as, the cake stand and tea set as they kept going over to the glass plinths and looking at them.

Whilst I was stood on the platform, I was thinking of ways the performance could have been improved. For example, I could have pushed my role further by maybe having some clear plastic boxes with coin slots on the top labelled ‘REACTED’, ‘IGNORED’ and ‘INTERACTION’ and every time a visitor did one I would put a coin into one of the slots and at the end tally up how many coins were in each box to compare people’s reactions to our performance. Having Shellie and Holly visible in the education room upstairs representing ‘THE MIMIC’ proved successful as a lot of passers by and visitors noticed them and interacted with them by waving and looking into the outside area to see what else was going on. Whilst on the platform I overheard some customers who were sat outside, notice and mention the ‘OBSERVATION’ sign which was on the window above where Gabriel and Jennie were sitting. As a result they then looked around and noticed the ‘MIMIC’ in the window behind them.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have a massive audience and people didn’t use the space as I thought they would. I imagined the visitors to walk around the space like they would in a gallery, moving around and looking at all the artefacts but instead they walked through to get to the cafe and didn’t really stop to look. As Pearson states in Site- Specific Performance, ‘at site the audience may be incidental- those present in the same place at the same time – and obdurate’ (Pearson, 2010, p. 17). Therefore, the audience members were there because they were visiting the Collection Gallery and not specifically to see our performance like they would if the performance was set in an auditorium of a theatre as ‘in the auditorium, the audience is cast as audience: purposefully assembled, expectant, disposed, potentially appreciative.’(Pearson, 2010, p. 17)

I think if we were to do it again we would need to make the exhibition more obvious and create more exhibits for the audience to view and observe. I also think Jennie, Gabriel, me and the empty cafe window would need placards in front of us to demonstrate more what we were trying to do and make it clear we were artefacts in an exhibition. I think we would also need to make more exhibits and make our piece more obvious instead of subtle.

Our original plan was to perform for half an hour and make it a short piece, however, as we didn’t know how many audience members or visitors were going to attend we started our performance at 12pm and finished just after half 1 and therefore Gabriel and Jennie repeated their quotes and we would continue if the outside area was busy. However, by half 1 the cafe wasn’t as busy and we decided to stop.

Pearson, M (2010) Site- Specific Performance Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

If I Could Have That Time Again…

Shane Humberstone / May 7, 2013May 13, 2013 / Evaluation, Possessed Time

Although I believe we achieved a considerable amount of which we set out to, if we were to do this again there would be several things I would change which I believe would make the overall execution of the performance better and more effective.

The first of these would be to engage with what time meant for other people apart from us. This could have been done by organising a short survey to find what time meant to them and then interpret that through our performance. , potentially by projection, or displaying their comments physically. Another way in which this could have worked is by adding a different dynamic to our piece, sound. If we had either spoken the words, or played recording of them, I believe that we could have had a bigger impact and it also would have made the piece more integrated with Gallery 3. Moreover, to help further see what affect we had on the them, as well as their perception of time, a feedback survey or comment box would have been really interesting and insightful, being beneficial for our findings but also for the Usher gallery as they could use it as an assessment of the space.

Secondly, I think we could have played about more with the projections and should have looked deeper into the idea of projecting something against us. We did talk a lot about this but could not decide on a strong enough image or way to do it. At points the projection was displayed on us, especially during the sleeping segment, which I thought was a really interesting effect. If we were to have a segment where the image was projected across us, I believe this could have been a good to show how time and our experience had affected us and people as a whole.

Although not entirely vital, but as stated previously, to add a new dynamic to the piece, more audience being among us would have been desirable. It would have been interesting to see not only how they reacted and felt being right in the centre of our piece, being part of something they were more than likely not familiar with, but how differently we reacted and how it changed the feel and impact of the piece. We did put up a sign welcoming the public into the space and to enjoy the performance as part of their museum experience, though more could have been done. Maybe introducing the idea to the public on their entrance with leaflets to accompany their visit, making them feel more comfortable with the idea, would have enticed more people to come closer to the action. Also more signage and direction would have been beneficial leading up to the gallery.

The gallery had introduced an ‘iGuide’ too late into our process to utilise it, but we had discussed using different forms of technology to present our piece. If we were to do the piece again using the ‘iGuide’ would have been really interesting, and beneficial, as we could have put a lot of different images of time and clocks on there and more explanation of our perception, and others, on the effect of time. Moreover, audio clips would have been good as it would have added a contrast to normally a very quiet experience, changing it to a more dynamic one.

Authored by Shane Humberstone

Overall Thoughts

Jade Nicholls / May 6, 2013May 13, 2013 / Cultural Terrorists, Evaluation

Our performance was on Saturday 4^th May 2013 at 3:30pm, overall it went extremely well and we had many positive comments afterwards. I believe the use of us using our own car to speed up to the gallery and speed away from the gallery really startled the audience who were gathered outside and I overheard one audience member say ‘oh wow its started’, this really highlighted we were smuggling something into the gallery and it needed to happen quickly. The audience then followed us into the gallery which worked really well as it drew the attention from many members of the public who seemed to be extremely confused and worried about what was going on. The music was already playing when we went into the room which had already meant there were some members of the public waiting to see what was going to happen. The construction of ‘The Big Ben’ went incredibly smoothly and all of our practicing has really paid off. Once the Big Ben started to chime on our soundscape we took of our balaclavas and began acting completely differently like sophisticated ladies from the 1920s and walking around the clock as if we had no idea how it had got there. I believe this would have brought comedic elements to the audience members who were there the whole time, but for the audience members who had not seen how the sculpture had got there it may have led to confusion which is what we wanted to happen. Once we had given away our balaclavas to get ‘rid of any evidence’ we then left the gallery slowly and as if we had done nothing wrong. We left the ‘Big Ben’ standing and did not return until the gallery had closed to create more of an impact. This was our aim to let members of the audience and public have a proper look at the ‘Big Ben’ we had created and to leave them wondering if anything else was going to happen. Furthermore our costumes looked shocking as the outfit was a huge contrast, we had flapper like dresses on which women wore during the 1920s, with big work boots and balaclavas. It worked really well as it again added to the ‘shock’ factor of what was going on and once we had taken of our balaclavas we were able to play completely different characters. Overall as a group we were really happy with our piece and the reviews we received after, the idea worked very well and the ‘Big Ben’ looked remarkable once it all came together. Below are some photos from the performance and rehearsals.

Jade, Lacey and Fotini next to the completed Big Ben

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During rehearsals, practicing putting up the Big Ben was a struggle at times when we did not have very high ceilings.

One of the four clock faces

Evaluation of Final Performance

Jennie Chapman / May 6, 2013May 11, 2013 / Evaluation, People

After finally performing our piece the other day, I have mixed feelings as to whether it was a success. On the whole I think it went well and enjoyed being a part of the group and my part in the performance. However, if we were to do it again, I think improvements could be made.

Considering the amount of changes and alterations we have gone through for our performance, what we eventually came to was simple yet what we wanted to achieve in the beginning; turning the cafe into an exhibition. Along with our static exhibits, the cake stand and the tea set, we successfully ‘performed’ as a Collection of People. Myself, Fran and Gabriel reciting quotes and conversations we have listened to which has been a great element to our performance from the weeks of research and experimentation of this module and Holly and Shellie performing their mimic of the cafe demonstrating the activity we have also observed in the cafe.

For me, this performance has been the strangest one yet in terms of how and where it was performed. The cafe already being open and the museum itself, we were waiting around to begin our performance. Although we said that we would start at midday, it did not feel like the start of a performance unlike it would if we were doing it in a studio or on stage but then again this is to be expected. One reason why I think this was was because we did not have a standing audience, our audience were the people who happened to be around or in the cafe at that time, which is what we wanted and achieved. I found that the people who did see us were hesitant to engage with what was happening particularly with myself, Fran and Gabriel, proof of this came when a couple asked us to stop! However, some spectators did engage by waving up at Holly and Shellie and I heard others ask each other what it was about which in a way is a compliment as it shows that people were trying to understand our performance.

“It is tangible, uncomplicated, unitary: all that legitimizes and validates acts of theatre. It may as a result be barely accounted for and under-represented within the purview of historiography” (Pearson, 2010, p192).

This quote from Pearson is speaking of the after math of a site specific performance. He says that performances go unnoticed and undocumented; they do not cause a huge stir among the public. This I can understand, however, I feel that this is because site specific performance is unique and has no boundaries. To have been apart of a learning experience like this, I have been able to experiment and undertake new practices, which is what site specific performance is about according to Pearson. It is not to prove a thesis it is to “encourage further initiatives in performance” (Pearson, 2010,p2).

Our work at The Collection may have only been small and experimental and I would like to expand on it, but it has been something different and intriguing to me as it has given me a greater knowledge and understanding of contemporary performance. The development and process of this piece has been challenging and complicated at times, however, I am happy with how it has turned out overall. If I were to do our performance again, I think I would like to take our performance further by making it more of a durational piece of work and also emphasise the idea of the cafe being in itself an exhibition as a I think we could have made our idea much stronger than it was. As well as this, I would hope to improve areas of the process in order to further inspire, communicate and encourage spectators to see this site from a new perspective.

Works Cited:

Pearson, Mike(2010) Site- Specific Performance, Palgrave Macmillan.

The Final Performance

Tabitha Hilton-Berry / May 6, 2013 / Evaluation, Possessed Time, Space

After months of preparation and hard work, the performance was finally put into practise and we felt it was very successful. Enduring a 6 hour performance was an extreme test for us but we found ourselves captivated by the continuous sound of ticking clocks which made the rhythm in our movements easier to achieve.

The start of the day proved to be a little stressful as we set up the projections and puzzle pieces ready to start at 10 o clock but found that everything came together well as we started. We only had one mishap throughout the entire performance which occurred in the first hour when an alarm clock failed to go off to notify us it was ‘time to get up’. Luckily, this was resolved quite easily and went unnoticed by the audience we had at the time.

During the first hour, we ‘slept’ against one of the walls in Gallery 3, which I found the hardest task of the performance as we had to keep very focused and could not relax like you do in reality when you sleep. After we had woken up from the sleep, we began the start of our condensed 24 hour day which included the motions of brushing our teeth, washing our faces, eating breakfast and walking to work, all for 15 minute sessions. Due to the practise for these movements that we had done prior to the performance, the movements were easier to control and physically were not as gruelling as we had expected them to be.

In the third hour, the focus was to be at ‘work’ which we had decided would be a clock factory as it reflected the ideas of James Usher’s clock collection and his views on industrialism. We decided that we would create a floor tile puzzle in which we drew a clock onto it and then during the ‘work hours’, we would work together to put the puzzle pieces back together, as if we were putting the components of a clock together in a factory. I found that this particular part of performance was successful as it seemed to intrigue a lot of visitors of the museum to follow our progression. This lasted for 1 hour and 45 minutes and then we moved on to the last two hours of our performance.

The final hours consisted of using movement to portray watching television, relaxing and eating dinner before then returning to our starting position of sleeping against the wall in the gallery.

Overall, I thought that our performance was successful and that the projections we used, which included a fully working digital clock that we had made using our bodies as the numbers, and a decomposing pineapple that we had filmed over a series of weeks, they were both an important and intriguing aspect.

I feel that we could have improved the movements we used and maybe incorporated more movements to the piece to make it more of a statement in the space. If we were to develop this further, we could consider extending the time in which we performed and perhaps consider performing for the complete 24 hours. However, due to the space we were in, it was not possible to do this as it is a public museum which has opening an closing times that we had to abide by.