AND WHAT CAN ART DO ABOUT IT?

The project "And what art can do about it?", a WASP Studios (Working Art Space and Production, Bucharest) initiative based on the theme proposed by curator Andreea Capitanescu, aims to "answer" a recurring question in the current context: how does art address and intervene in eco-socio-political crises? Thus, a group of artists invited the public to a series of performative actions based on direct interactions and aiming at a collective approach.

"Each of us entered "the black box", we gathered, then we scattered/separated, but we somehow emerged transformed from these encounters. Through collective moments of movement, talking, reading and sharing food, we were contaminated by each other's presence and acts. As we unpacked/explored questions in the face of an ongoing war and many other hardships/difficulties, we came to realise that what has become political is precisely this capacity of ours to act together. We shared this encounter with an audience in the form of artistic responses. The audiences joined actively the performative actions, proposed by each participant.

Artists: Elvisey Pisica, Cosmina Morosan & Anticorp Solar, Gene Tanta, Kiki Mihuta, Thomas Steyaert, Irina Motroc, Moncea Malina, Teodora Rotaru

Curators / mentors: Anca Rujoiu, Irina Botea & Jon Dean

Special guests: Azar Mahmoudian, Alevtina Kakhidze, Lina Gómez, Moe Satt

Response by Thomas Steyaert - ‘And what can art do about it?’

Transformative landscape - Score for a collective real-time performance.

We act, play, dance, sing, draw, paint, construct, deconstruct, run, walk, talk, read, lay, stand, touch, try, doubt, observe, sit, wonder, question …

We depend on each other in order to create.

We communicate through creative actions.

We are all observers and performers.

We will not rehearse the score. We talk about it, so we all have an understanding. Then we perform.

Score - TRANSFORMATIVE LANDSCAPE - duration 1h30min.

The space is randomly filled with objects of different sizes (materials that we find in and around WASP), sheets of paper, books/texts of choice of the performers, canvas, paint, drawing materials and paint brushes, water, tissues, one camera (could be phone), a sound recording device, a microphone, some light objects (spots), sound installation connected to a laptop that contains a playlist of music and sounds, …
Everything we generated during the research serves as a base in order to generate new ideas and creative actions, to make variations or to repeat certain actions with the idea of ‘performing’.

SHARED ACTIONS:

At one point in the score, together, as a group we will move the objects around. We don’t talk during this action. There is a constant negotiation between the performers and the objects in time and space. We depend on each other to give an object a specific place. An object that is being moved in space, together with the movement of the performer carrying the object, gives the information where the next object will be placed. We observe, construct, deconstruct, construct again. It’s a cycle! We do this for 15 minutes.
At one point in the score, we all form a circle in the center of the space. We stand. We close our eyes. We, individually, create an imaginative space of discomfort. In relation to your space of discomfort, you produce vocal sounds. Images, thoughts, questions, colors, they all are being translated through your own individual vocal sounds. There is no communication with the sound of the other performers. Most likely there will be cacophony.
After a certain amount of time, we consciously start to observe the sounds of the others and we gradually connect trying to find one and the same tone. Once we connect through the tone, we open our eyes and slowly approach to the center of the circle. We physically connect with each other, still holding the tone. It’s a slow and careful approach. The moment, we are all connected, we go down to the ground, forming a ‘pile’. This means we are all in close contact. We stay connected in this ‘sound object’ for at least 5 minutes. It’s a still image!

Points of attention, questions, and some guidelines.

How does the performance start? How does it end?
Recuperating materials, variations on existing materials, and generating new materials
Problems you might encounter, you try to solve through creative actions. Don’t step out unless there is no other option. Doubt will be present. Its ok to doubt.
Where do you take the information from, to move an object in space? (Shape of object, shape that the object creates in space, shape in between object and object, shape in between object and performer, the time in which the object is moved, trajectory of the object…)
How to work with time? Try to avoid linear time. Explore the potential of creating tension in the space by applying unpredictability in the use of time. Time is magic! Tension might also be created by using silences/stops. Explore the tension in the space in between the actions or displacement of the objects. Maybe the silences in between the actions are of more importance than the actions on itself?
What about focus? How do we look at each other? How do we observe?
Dependency is the motor for development. We can’t move in space or start an action without the action of the other. One performer will start the cycle.
Create space for each other but also try to discover and explore interactions. Since everything happens in real-time and the score is not structured, it fragile. How to deal with this fragility? We play, compose, direct as a group, even if your action is individual. Keep observing and communication!
It’s fine that ‘nothing’ is happening.
How to invite the audience?
Time is relative.
Embrace the unknown…
It’s fine to act sometimes without understanding your action.
Try to translate emotions or states that you generate in a creative response. Let them develop into a new inner space; movement quality, sound, interactions…
You can develop more shared actions (they don’t need to involve the whole group).