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1 a Provenance of Performance: Excavating New Art Histories

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1 a Provenance of Performance: Excavating New Art Histories 1 A Provenance of Performance: Excavating new art histories through a consideration of re-enactment and the perspectives of the audience. Sarah Elizabeth Wishart Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds, School of English October 2018 2 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2018 The University of Leeds Sarah Elizabeth Wishart “The right of Sarah Elizabeth Wishart to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.” 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To Jeremy Deller and Graeme Miller who created this obsession of mine in the first place, who were always helpful, considered and discursive, thank you so very much. To my supervisor: Professor Stephen Bottoms for all his work during this never-ending part- time PhD to get me one way or another to the finish line. Thank you. To all the audiences from the screenings, focus groups & the walkers: Your anonymity was guaranteed, so I can’t thank you by name, but thank you very much for all your time and effort. Without you, this wouldn’t have happened. For all other academic and practical kinds of help I had in undertaking this research, particularly from: ACME, Iain Aitch, Felicity Armstrong, Artangel, Artsadmin, Frances Babbage, BBC Radio Leeds, David Beech, Anna Bitkina, Simon Cane, Chelsea School of Art, Sarah Cockburn, David Cross, Rod Dixon, David Douglass, Mike Figgis, Forced Entertainment, Howard Giles, Stewart Gledhill, Mark Godber, Mark Hunter, Phill Jupitus, Adrian Kear, Lois Kiedan, Matthew Kieran, Richard Leighton, Louise Lawson, Live Arts Development Agency, Alison Lloyd, Alison Marchant, Maureen Measure, Rosie Millard, Michael Morris, Andy Morgan, Eleanor Nairn, Terri O'Connor, Alan Read, Red Ladder Theatre, Jane Rendell, Dan Saul, Rebecca Schneider, Sheffield University Drama Department, Helen Statman, Sam Stockdale, Mark Taylor Batty, Des Thomas, Jane Verity, Boff Whalley, Deborah Youdell and finally to Andrew Raine and the other gorgeous people at Wharf Chambers, a rare place indeed. Very special thanks for Tim Etchells who has been generous in so many different ways over the years. From sharing his memories and thoughts on the work on numerous occasions – to networking me into spaces for screenings of Orgreave, to asking me to speak and write about Forced Entertainment, he has always been encouraging about my research and key in introducing me to the right people at the right times. It has meant a great deal. To all my many families: For the loan of the houses and boats where this was written, for ideas, connections, late-night emails, cattes, rousing challenges and to all who lined this painful, lonely, endless cross-country marathon route cheering me on from often far away, thank you. You are too many to name. Thanks to all the Wishart family particularly to my lovely sister Mary and her husband Jody. To the Power clan who were always so proud of my efforts, and particularly my uncle, Phillip Power and his Rachael Allain. Most of all to my mum, Jeannetta Wishart who propped me up at crucial times and enabled my dogged stubbornness. To Debbie Pearson, Jason Crouch & Bill Roberts, you were my research colleagues, the ones I didn’t have naturally because of the weirdness of a part-time PhD, and the particular weirdness of mine. To my best friend Kevin Sanders who radically proofed it and kindly didn’t argue with any of the politics in it before I submitted. To Una Bauer for all the time you gave me from so far away - mostly via Skype. Jon Owen who helped me over the stumbles time after time. Kirsty Sedgman who was so kind and supportive at crucial moments. Tana West who always finds the evidence to prove my way of doing things isn’t wrong. And James Mackenzie who turned up in my life at the very last moment of this work but did much to tease me over the line. But extra special thanks to Nicholas Middleton who was there all the way from before the beginning, all the way to the end. Who came to all the shows, let me bounce all the ideas off him, and did the walk nearly as many times as I did without complaining once and finally gently and kindly proofed it one last time. You have been a much better art education than I think I could have ever had at an institution. Not only has this work shaped my practice, enabled me to think about ways to shift my own experience of violent trauma into art, but it has protected me against so many external events, given me reason to keep on keeping on, and been a space to hide when things fell apart. So, I must finally tell that student of Dave Gillborn, who I met only once on the day of her successful PhD viva in Gordon Square a lifetime ago. I followed your advice, I enjoyed the journey, even if I didn’t realise it until the very very end. 4 Abstract .................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1 – Introduction to a Provenance of Performance ........................................ 8 Why these artworks? ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Why an archaeological perspective? ........................................................................................................... 11 Why the adoption of provenance? ................................................................................................................ 12 Chapter outline ..................................................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2 – Archaeology, Provenance and A Consideration of Re-enactment ......... 20 Re-enactment ........................................................................................................................................................ 22 Re-enactment and contemporary art .......................................................................................................... 23 Documentation of performance and provenance .................................................................................. 26 Chapter 3 – Provenance and The Perspective of the Audience ................................ 31 Documentation and audiences ....................................................................................................................... 31 Audience and the Theatre ................................................................................................................................ 31 Different kinds of audience engagement ................................................................................................... 33 Longitudinal research into theatre audiences ........................................................................................ 36 Listening to audiences ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Art spaces and audiences ................................................................................................................................. 40 How to talk to audiences .................................................................................................................................. 42 Chapter 4 - The methodology of my research .......................................................... 44 Audiences: methodologies and processes ................................................................................................ 44 The best ways to listen – working with quantitative data collection ............................................ 46 Overview of methods ......................................................................................................................................... 47 Screenings and walks ......................................................................................................................................... 50 Practical problems ............................................................................................................................................... 50 The unheard audiences or why didn’t I just turn up at Orgreave? ................................................. 52 Chapter 5 - Jeremy Deller’s The Battle of Orgreave ................................................. 59 A history of The Battle of Orgreave .............................................................................................................. 59 Battle lines and tactics of the government ................................................................................................ 62 Police action at Orgreave .................................................................................................................................. 64 Disparities in reporting – the BBC at Orgreave ...................................................................................... 65 The Provenance of the artwork The Battle of Orgreave ...................................................................... 68 The making of the Battle of Orgreave ........................................................................................................
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