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Participatory Art and Creative Audience Engagement

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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies Legacy Theses 2011 Practices of Fluid Authority: Participatory Art and Creative Audience Engagement Smolinski, Richard Smolinski, R. (2011). Practices of Fluid Authority: Participatory Art and Creative Audience Engagement (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/22585 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/48892 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Practices of Fluid Authority: Participatory Art and Creative Audience Engagement by Richard Smolinski A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ART CALGARY, ALBERTA DECEMBER 2011 Richard Smolinski 2011 i The author of this thesis has granted the University of Calgary a non-exclusive license to reproduce and distribute copies of this thesis to users of the University of Calgary Archives. Copyright remains with the author. Theses and dissertations available in the University of Calgary Institutional Repository are solely for the purpose of private study and research. They may not be copied or reproduced, except as permitted by copyright laws, without written authority of the copyright owner. Any commercial use or re-publication is strictly prohibited. The original Partial Copyright License attesting to these terms and signed by the author of this thesis may be found in the original print version of the thesis, held by the University of Calgary Archives. Please contact the University of Calgary Archives for further information: E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: (403) 220-7271 Website: http://archives.ucalgary.ca Abstract “Practices of Fluid Authority” is a creative and scholarly research project examining a range of participatory art practices to locate works that invite audiences to experience creativity and practice authorship. Whereas contemporary discussions of participation and audience engagement often occur in the shadow of Nicolas Bourriaud’s Relational Aesthetics and assume that participation is a means for fostering greater conviviality, sociability and democratic engagement, Fluid Authority suggests that participation may be a means to de-mystify the creative process and blur the stable distinctions between artists and audiences. Reflecting upon art history, art theory and contemporary creative practice, the thesis incorporates case studies that illustrate that Fluid Authority is a recuperative art form that revisits and reconstitutes past works as the “medium” for audiences to experience creative engagement. To understand how such participatory art practices function, the “legacy” of Allan Kaprow is introduced. While Kaprow was not specifically interested in introducing his audiences to creativity, his early works established a series of situations that invited audience participation and offered creative experiences to those that executed his works. To understand how his and other past artworks might be available for re-use, the thesis also introduces the idea of recuperative art practice. While recuperation is important to Fluid Authority, the thesis examines a range of overlapping and conflicting motivations that are evident in the practice, including the desire to preserve works that are difficult to archive and the hope to re-animate the criticality of past works. ii By looking to such examples as David Khang’s “citational” performance practice, The Patch Project organized by TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary and the “Community Mapping Project” Imaginary Ordinary, the thesis identifies a form of recuperation that views past works as retrievable material that may be utilized as a “medium” for new creative ventures. Extrapolating from these creative examples, the thesis concludes with an account of my own efforts to develop works that demonstrate Fluid Authority by revisiting and revising past creative precedents to serve as the basis for new works that facilitate the audience’s participation and experience of creativity. iii Acknowledgements A very wise person once explained to someone very dear to me that books begin with pages of acknowledgements because no one writes a book by themselves. While this is not technically a “book,” the point about writing with the great assistance of others was very true throughout the preparation of this document. Additionally, the written thesis would not have been possible without all those that were involved in the many experiences that informed it. Thus, my indebtedness fills a number of pages. First it is important to thank the members of my thesis committee and especially my co-supervisors, Dr. Penny Farfan and Prof. Paul Woodrow. Greatest thanks go to Penny for helping me to see the point that this thesis yearned to make, for her tireless efforts to introduce me to the mechanics of writing, and for keeping this project going towards its imminent conclusion. Great thanks also go to Paul for sharing his enthusiasm for ephemeral, indeterminate and contingent experiences of art and for our on-going discussions concerning creative thinking and creative engagement. Thanks as well to Dr. Brian Rusted, for introducing me to the wonderful world of Performance Studies in the PFST601 class that he conducted and for his timely feedback while I was revising the thesis, and to Dr. Jean-René Leblanc for his help finding funding at a crucial juncture of my studies. I would like to thank all those involved in the former Performance Studies programme for developing such an excellent course of study and for inviting me to be a part of it. Thanks in this case to Dr. Susan Bennett, Dr. Doug Brown, Prof. Anne Flynn, Dr. Mary Polito, Dr. Kirsten Pullen, Prof. Gavin Semple, Dr. Florentine Strzelczyk and iv three members of my thesis committee, Penny, Paul and Brian. Truly, not a day goes by when I do not regret Performance Studies’ demise. I must thank many people in the Department of Art for helping me find an alternative space to hang my hat and helping out in countless ways. They include Prof. Arthur Nishimura; technicians Rick Calkins, Nathan Tremblay and Jim Williams and former administrative assistant, Sheila Harland. As well, a warm hug of thanks to both Samira Jaffer, a tireless worker for good in the Department of Art, and to Olga Rapczewski-Ruff, who makes the Department’s Artstore a pleasure to visit. Thanks must also go to Prof. Kim Huynh and Dr. Geoffrey Simmins for their on-going support and interest in my thesis and to Dr. Robert Kelly, for our occasional debates about creativity. As I was trying to imagine what would be possible through a combined scholarly and creative research programme, I had the great opportunity to work with Dr. Christian Bök. I must thank Christian for informing me that the technique of linguistic pastiche that I thought I had invented was known as portmanteau word-coinage and had been in existence since the Victorian era. As well, an impish and conspiratorial smirk goes to Gavin Semple for always being willing to discuss the unfathomable circumstances of academia and for finding my creative work amusing. I would also like acknowledge my peers, such as Dave Owens, who was the other doctoral student in the Performance Studies’ inaugural intake and whom I wish had been around a bit longer so that our friendly rivalry could have flourished as we worked towards our degrees. A big hug of appreciation to Melanie Bennett, who was the one that actually graduated with a Performance Studies degree, and whose creativity and enthusiasm were unceasingly impressive. She has been greatly missed since returned to v Ontario to pursue her own doctoral studies. Finally, great thanks to Eric Moschopedis, who could make a performance out of Bisquick and whose work and creative engagement have been a constant source of inspiration. His project Imaginary Ordinary helped to crystallize my notion of Fluid Authority and his invitation to provide the introduction to the monograph documenting that project provided a crucial opportunity to clarify my thoughts upon participatory art practices. Thanks as well to Eric for permitting me to include a revised version of that material in Chapter 5 of this thesis. Thanks as well to former MFA students Marnie Blair, Julie Boyd, Luba Diduch, Jennifer Rae Forsyth, Andrew McLaren, Shawna Reiter and D’Arcy Wilson for inviting me to edit their graduation exhibition catalogue, Postscript: Post-scriptum and for providing a great opportunity to work with all the writers involved in that project. Great thanks are due to Lisa Borin for her videography of CANCELdomly CALGARious (and for her permission to use stills from that document) and to Kristine Thoreson for documenting my work at various times and allowing me to use those images in this thesis. Thanks to Adrien Clappa for being available to lend a hand at a number of junctures these past few years, and to Jason de Haan, Wednesday Lupypchiw, Katherine Thompson and Renato Vitic for discussing CAMPER and TRUCK Gallery’s The Patch Project in the earliest days of my interest in this research project. A significant debt of gratitude is owed to a few individuals who were vital to the public dissemination of my thesis’ creative projects: Tammy McGrath of the Ledge Gallery (Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts), and Renato Vitic and Erin Belanger (TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary). Without them, I probably would have had to perform in my garage only my cats as my only audience. The audiences that shared their vi time and effort, and participated in my works, are also due a great thank you because without them I would have been a guy making up words and re-drawing the canon in the solitude of his basement.
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