dß i c: M, C=) -i t aura ,G ,a3.3. aº *--- s rz r- olag rs. +a east-- mblage of ' =r-. cororex -t iri 199 03 /1509 Ra1arx d Gor Yrad Mi] ] r- F4A. Dip Drram Tt-}. rý-i s submi tt ,-d f r- tJ .award of a PhD ex t E) Morzt fort Ti r-i 3, v cr r-r sity Ma y2OOO 3 rs, two vo1 ums. -{ a ]_ u ms _- wr itt t-- r-i -t rr xt Abet r-aºct In volume I the text deals with the development of a piece of public performance art - 'Incorporating' - given over a period of four days in September 1999 by Roland Miller in Sheffield. Certain questions are posed at the beginning of the text. The Introduction (pp 2-17) and Autobiographical note (pp 18-24) attempt an overview of how Miller's early life, education, and subsequent involvement with fellow artist Shirley Cameron contributed to his current practice of performance art. The questions relate to the spectator's interpretation of the actions of a performer. A central dilemma arising from non-mimetic, non-narrative, contingent performance in public is the possible conflict between the artist's intentionality and any meaning attributed to the performance by spectators. Chapters 1 (pp 25-46) on 'Romanticism and Performance Art' and 2 (pp 47-57) ' The artist as perceptive receptacle' explore aspects of the role of an artist in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of the mechanics of performance art, and Miller's use of the concept 'postupok', derived from the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) are discussed in chapter 3 (pp 58-66), which also looks at 'abjection' and the grotesque. In chapter 4 (pp 67-83) bricollage and 'Do-It-Yourself Culture' are addresed in the context of contemporary culture. Part II covers the documentation of Miller's performances in 1998, in several Central European countries (chapter 5, pp 84-91). In chapter 6 (pp 92-156) texts that accompanied some performances including 'Incorporating' are reprinted. Also included in this chapter is the text of Miller's lecture 'The Artist as Transmitter in the Contemporaray City' which examines some of an artist's options in contemporaray society (pp 97- 119). Volume II contains sets of colour photographs relating to performances between May 1998 (Chiginflu) and September 1999 (Sheffield) with notes. These photographs illustrate the process of the gradual 'disappearance' of the performer in an urban context. Corxt +--rit s VOLW¬ I Definitions & Questions page 1 Introduction 2- 17 Autobiographical note 18 - 24 I Analysis chapter 1 The Importance of Landscape, the Value of Low Life: 25 - 46 Romanticism and Performance Art 2 The artist as perceptive receptacle 47 - 57 3 Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) 58 - 66 4 Collage and bricolage 67 - 83 II Documentation - Synthesis 5 Development of a set of performances, April '98 to 84 - 91 September '99, including 'Incorporating'I ." 6 Three texts: (i) 'The Performer's Fear of the Actor 92 - 96 - physiology' (ii) 'The Artist as Transmitter in the 97 - 118 Contemporary City' (iii) 'Incorporating' 119 - 155 Conclusion 156 written coverage and archival documentation of performance art 157,158 work by Cameron & Killer bibliography 159 - 165 VOLUME II photographs «' DEFT NI T2 ©NS 8 QUESTIONS This text attempts to explore the performance art work 'Incorporating' in terms of four associated praxes, defined below; DEFINITIONS montage: a literary, musical, or artistic composition made up of various di: '"erent elements, collage: an assembly of diverse fragments. bricolage: do-i t-yourseI f, D. I. Y. assemblage: a collection of people or things; a gathering. a three-dimensional collage made from scraps, junk, and odds and ends (eg of paper, cloth, wood, stone, or metal) These seven questions have emerged during the period of work on 'Incorporating' and other performances, 1998-99 QUESTIONS How does the presence of the actual human body (not its depiction) in a performed art work function? Does this body form an associative link with a spectator, affirming or contradicting his/her perception of self? Are anxieties in the spectator confirmed by perceived pathological states in the performative body? May racial, gender, or other prejudices be validated by the actions of performers? What part does mimetic performance (acting, role play) have in these processes? Does the portrayal of victimhood or vulnerability entertain? Can the voluntary removal of the performer's body, or the transience of the performer's actions (and marks). re-direct the gaze of the spectator(s) onto others, or to the context in which the performance has taken place? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Definitions taken from the Longman Dictionary of the English Language, 1984, except 'bricolage', which is from Larousse Dictionnaire Franrais- Anglais, 1990 (1) I vi -it; roduc ti orz My period of research (1993 - 2000) has coincided with a significant change in my working life as a performance artist. For approximately twenty-five years, since 1969, I had made my way as a self-employed 'performer'. The most important pieces of work were made with Shirley Cameron, who was a sculptor and art tea: her when I first met her, in Wales in 1969. Before that I had been a member of The People Showces), worked as a lighting designer, a stage director and assistant to the Literary Manager of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and as a freelance journalist in the London- based 'underground press'. In 1994 I took a job as a full-time lecturer in theatre studies at the University of Huddersfield. Apart from fees for performances and occasional journalism, my income had previously come from a combination of part-time teaching in the Fine Art departments of art schools, and a series of grants from the Arts Council and British Council. This text attempts to shed light on some of the questions (see page 1) that have emerged from performance works carried out over the last three decades and from recent research into the theoretical substructure. The introduction (pp 2-10) covers some of the issues that have prompted the questions. Section I Analysis looks at strands of theory. Section II Documentation - Synthesis traces the process of making the performances in 1998/99 that culminated in 'Incorporating. There is a photographic record of these performances. 'Incorporating' was presented as a live 'Doctoral' performance in Sheffield, September 1999 Shirley Cameron and I were included in exhibitions such as 'Magic & Strong Medicine' (Peter Moores Liverpool Project, the Walker Gallery, 1973); ' EuropaI ia', Brussels, 1973; 'English Art Today 1960-761, Milan; 'Contemporary English Art' Bregenz, 1977; 'Scale for Sculpture' (London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Southampton, Swansea, 1978-79); we created specific performance installations for the Serpentine Gallery, London in 1972, '73, and '74. We appeared in festivals and at venues in the USA and Canada, in most European countries, including Portugal in 1974 and Poland in 1978. We performed at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (twice) and at the International Cultural Centre, Antwerp (twice). (2) We were involved in performance art festivals in many European cities. As well as these art venues and events, we'devised work for a number of 'non-art' locations: agricultural shows in England and Scotland ('73-'79), youth clubs and community centres, and 'streets, beaches, forests, parks, ferry-boats, shops, railway-lines"'"". Alongside the gallery catalogue notes and art historical essays (Carol Hogben, Norbert Lynton, Caroline Tisdall), occasional pieces of (art) journalism"6' dealt with our work. Our work was viewed in and commented on in a range of different circumstances. To theatre audiences and critics we were sometimes too slow, too 'atmospheric', and to gallery viewers we could be too 'theatrical'. In Poland, although we had embarked on a tour (in 1978) that began in the small Teatr Pstrrg in Lodz, the other venues where we performed were art galleries (Gdansk, Lublin, Warsaw) or artists' 'meetings' held in quiet rural locations, away from the prying eyes of the authorities, or in the street. This was the time when Polish society was beginning to shake itself free of communism. Artists from 'the West' were allowed into Poland, to demonstrate the 'free' liberalism, on both sides of the iron curtain but they were kept under close surveillance. Our first performance in Poland was watched by a government agent, who was heard to mutter as he left the theatre that there was nothing in it for him. We found that in Poland our performances in 1978 were described as 'parateatralny. This term seems to have been derived from Jerzy Grotowski«', and may be translated loosely as 'beyond theatre', performances taking place in obscurity, to avoid ideological censorship. It may have been applied to us because we were not part of the mainstream, came from the West, and were thus associated with dissidence. The encouraging aspect of our reception in Poland was the perception that creative work that occupied ground between art and theatre had a legitimacy, albeit in the context of underground, dissident culture. We paid three separate visits to Poland in 1978-79 which we were told was most unusual. Reciprocally, we invited two performance artists, Zbigniew Warpechowski and Jerzy Beres, and a critic, Andrzej Kosto±owski to tour Britain with us in 1979. (3) The 1980s were a decade of conflict in British cultural, and other politicsC". Cameron and I worked less together. We were both involved in 'issue-based' performances which had to do with gender/feminism, opposition to Thatcherite politics and economics, anti-nuclear and peace campaigns, and towards the end of the decade political satire. We eventually ran out of financial support for our work, perhaps an inevitable consequence of personal and political tensions.