Category: People

Looking at a ‘New City’

Holly Rudd / / People, Research

When we first approached the subject of site specific we walked around the city of Lincoln trying to explore the environment in a way that we had never before. We were asked to look for specific places, such as; the best place to find an old couple holding hands, the worst place to pass wind, the best place to build a tree house and so on. To begin with we walked into the centre of the city, but then our course took us on another direction. We ended up somewhere that neither of us had been before.  When we were in the areas that we had experienced before it was as though we were looking at them differently because we were, because we were looking for something in particular we paid more attention to the city that we so often pass by in an unfamiliar manner. ‘It’s that city, or one like it – this city, but not this one’ (Etchells, 1999, pg 76) Etchells quote from his book certain fragments sums up our feelings towards our new discoveries whilst wandering around Lincoln.

During our exploration I discovered a new love for the city itself, it developed deeper meaning and created new experiences. Whilst exploring new areas of the city I felt and excitement to uncover something I did not know before.

 

We found the best place to go sledding

 2013-01-22 09.55.34

The best place to discover true beauty

 Lincoln Cathedral

The best place to find yourself

Thinking places

 

The quote from Etchells is from an article within which he looks at the relationship between creative process and the practices of everyday life. This is what we were doing during our tour of the city; we were exploring the possibilities of performance whilst also looking into everyday situations, finding creativity from pedestrian actions. By looking for specific criteria we discovered creativity within each act. The worst place to sleep rough; we discussed where this might be, if there is anywhere that is the best place to sleep rough, why you would and what your circumstances might be to get to this point, from this discussion in our pair we decided upon performance concepts and ethical points. We then realised that this had never really been a topic that either of us had overly thought, it wasn’t until looking deeper into the city that we discovered these ideas.

Our journey took us on a 3 mile walk around the city, I found potential in a few of the sites for performance and for new discovery, it would have been interesting to explore these options further if we could have chosen a site but this exercise really opened my eyes into looking at things differently and so I feel that when we visit our site I hope I will be able to be open minded about it and look at it from a performance perspective, the same way that Etchells can view a city as a new city entirely.

 

Etchells, Tim (1999) Certain Fragments, New York: Routledge

Site Specific Performance- An Introduction

Jennie Chapman / / People

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]

Explanation of Site-Specific

Holly Rudd / / People, Research, Uncategorized

So what would I call Site-Specific?

Dictionary definitions;

Site: ‘The area or exact plot of ground on which anything is, has been, or is to be located’

Specific: ‘Having a special application, bearing, or reference’

Site-Specific in our case refers to that of a space in which we are creating performance that links back to the site. When looking for performance ideas we are creating it around the site specifically.

Our site is The Collection and Usher Galleries on Danes Terrace in Lincoln. But first we went to explore the city, I will talk about this in a later post but before that I want to talk about other practitioner’s definitions of site performance and how they relate to their sites.

‘how different types of spatial arrangements affect our understanding of and relationships with performance: specifically, the particularities of ‘place’ and its capacity to recontextualize performance’ (Tompkins, 2012, pg 1) this quote from Tompkins really intrigued me as it talks about how ‘place’ can change the relationships of performance. I like the idea of creating a piece where the audience don’t relate to it as a performance. The freedom that site-specific performance gives us as performers is really daunting but at the same time it’s very exciting as we can create what we want in response to the site itself.

(Subltlemob, 2009)

The subtlemob video shows the practical effect of the Tompkins quote. Subtlemob use city spaces that are frequently inhabited by people and use a soundscape to change the way they see the site. As if it were the last time is a performance of Subtlemob’s work, from the video you can see people’s reactions to the piece and the space they are occupying. I like the idea of changing an audience perspective as it seems like an interesting concept to explore. I hope that in our final performance our group can incorporate some of these ideas.

I am looking forward to visiting our site for the first time and seeing what it has to offer us as performers.

 

Subtlemob (2009) OFFICIAL “as if it were the last time” – 2009 subtlemob Video, Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY6S4GkCZ9c (accessed: 19 january 2013)

Tompkins, Joanne (2012) ‘The ‘place’ and practice of site-specific theatre’, Anna Birch and Joanne Tompkins (ed) Performing Site Specific Theatre, New York: Palgrave Macmillan