Investigating Scape: Arts and Industry Biennial 2002
By Kate Montgomery, Elaina Hamilton and Eric Forster.
Preface
Developing out of 'traditional' gallery practices and forms of curatorial management and representation, contemporary visual arts festivals like SCAPE still exhibit within their own managerial structures, the conceptual frameworks of the cultural institutions that preceded them. The relative roles of Director, Curator and Artist still remain current within this 'contemporary' cultural form, although there exists a greater emphasis on the evolution of projects through continued dialogue and conceptual development at all levels of the administrative structure which would be less likely to occur in a 'traditional' institutionalised cultural body.
As a 'conceptual' cultural body, and a relatively new presence within the arts scene, Art & Industry relies upon its virtual presence via media coverage, web presence and continued cultural currency within the arts community to maintain its existence and continued relevance within the cultural scene of Christchurch. Developing from a concept for a one-off exhibition focusing on local artistic practices involving the use of industrial materials and processes, Deborah McCormick has found herself moving form the role of artist/curator in 1998 to that of Director of the Art & Industry Biennial Trust 2002.
With the advice and assistance of Warren Pringle, McCormick presented the launch of Art & Industry in 1998 as a conceptual project for the production and exhibition of site-specific works within the public spaces and cultural institutions of Christchurch. The coverage gained from the launch event held at the Convention Centre, Art & Industry secured genuine interest in their proposition for a New Zealand based biennial that would attempt to build up an international reputation which took its evolutionary model from the precedents and successes of other art festivals such as the Sydney Biennial.
Following a period of intense research and planning, the invitation for expressions of interest was extended to local artists, who then submitted propositions for the inaugural Arts & Industry Biennial themed "Traditions of the New". Partnerships and networking is the name of the game and the 2000 Biennial saw artists challenge and transgress accepted artistic practices as painters teamed up to present a collaborative televised video work in Madame and the Bastard Do Black, and other artists extended their own creative practises, in ways similar to Michael Tuffery's investigation of performance art.
Drawing together a diverse range of institutions ranging from the avant-garde sensibilities of The Physics Room to the more traditional space of the Centre Of Contemporary Art, Art & Industry sees its "organisation as a being flagship for those agencies"[1]. As McCormick explains, "we come along every two years, [the different agencies] continue their programmes... but we give them an opportunity to add a sort of continuity... and tie them all together."
Networks and partnerships form the basic structure of the biennial, McCormick explains, "Partnerships are everywhere which means we can achieve what we do," and it is through ‘official’ channels of communication that the administrative structures of the festival interact with the public, the audience they wish to engage. As a consequence of this structure, this research project involves a detailed analysis of the public facade of the festival within the cultural landscape of Christchurch.
Hailing from different academic backgrounds, this project draws together a variety of techniques of cultural criticism and analysis. Kate Montgomery’s academic history is grounded in art historical and postcolonial literary theory.
This project draws together a variety of techniques of cultural criticism and analysis. Kate Montgomery’s academic history is grounded in art historical and postcolonial literary theory, Elaina Hamiltons’ background is based in aesthetic theory and art theory and her own personal knowledge of artistic practice, while Eric Forster’s section is structured by English Literary theory and understandings of popular cultural practices.
In the first section, Kate Montgomery attempts to analyse the administrative structure and contemporary functions of arts festival such as the Arts & Industry Biennial. Initially focusing on the development of exhibitionary practices, she seeks to establish a possible genealogy for 'festival culture' through an investigation of what may have been one of the earliest public expression of the 'value' of relationships between artistic and industrial fraternities, The Great Exhibition of 1851. Following this events explicit educational function and its intriguing relationship with the politics of commodification and 'taste', she develops a framework for the analysis of the development of exhibitionary practices and their relationship to the wider historical and contemporary social contexts of the changing 'culture' of the art world.
In the second section, Elaina Hamilton discusses the phenomenology of public art, in relation to the discourses surrounding the art institution and public and private space. Like much public art, the Scape festival promotes aims of making art accessible to a wide section of the community, while maintaining artistic integrity. The festival talks of bringing art back out into the public sphere, to be reclaimed by the public and the public landscape. Elaina investigates the historical context in which public art distinguishes itself from the autonomous discourse of Western fine art tradition. A formalist tradition where art is an autonomous act of expression, and its appreciation is a private act of contemplation. Public art requires the artist’s self negation and requires a collective approach to the viewing and appreciation of artworks. To do this successfully so that works are accessible to the public requires a tangible differentiation of public space over private space in terms of it as both a physical and conceptual space. An analysis of public art raises questions regarding what the art of public art should be and whom it is that constitutes the public. Public art is about process; it is about collective identities and collective meanings. Its creation requires input from many different sources with diverse needs and varying aims to be reconciled in order to create a cohesive and accessible work.
Elaina critically discusses how the Scape project operates within the field of public art, focusing on how the idea of space is addressed both physically and conceptually. How Scape exists within this notion of a ‘landscape’, as consisting of layers of space forming identity through geographical, historical and social interactions merged with conceptual ideas surrounding identity formation. She discusses the idea of accessibility regarding the aims of Scape to break down elitism in terms of the way space operates, and how the festival addresses this. As public art is not made public by virtue of its title nor by its location alone, works of public art need to be accessible to the public in both a theoretically comprehensible and physical way. She discusses the way in which many of the spaces of Scape engage a pseudo-public sphere rather than an actual cross-section, representing all the different elements of the wider community. By engaging this pseudo-public sphere, the festival becomes exclusive rather than inclusive. Elaina’s analysis argues that public art exists in terrain outside of the traditional private realm of high art, and as such can no longer be discussed in terms of purely aesthetic parameters. Public art must be considered in correlation to other concerns such as its functional aspects in relation to the community around it. It should be about the everyday processes of living, public art should speak of life.
In the third Section, Eric Forster engages in a critical study in relation to the claim, made by the Arts and Industry Biennial Trust, that the Scape festival aims to “break down elitism and ensure the art works are accessible to all” (Scape Promotional Brochure, 4). The theoretical basis for the study comes from the work of Pierre Bordieu and his theories as outlined in his book Distinction. Bordieu’s work is particularly useful for the way it points out the fact that high cultural taste tends to be so far removed from popular taste that it favours cultural production that is perceptually inaccessible to all but a few. The cultural production favoured by high cultural taste in perceptually inaccessible to the majority of people, and part of a restricted culture, because it is enjoyed via institutionally derived knowledge and the art-referencing aesthetic disposition.
The study argues that in their attempt to “break down elitism” the organisers of Scape are attempting to make contemporary art less a part of a restricted culture and so it will be necessary for them to exhibit artworks that are not perceptually inaccessible to a general audience. In the April 16 issue of The Press, Deborah McCormick stated that “the works in Scape have been chosen for their accessibility”, showing that the organisers of Scape are conscious of the need to make their art works not only physically accessible but perceptually accessible. The study finds that there are a number of art works in the festival that have attributes that would suggest they are potentially accessible, but are still decipherable only through institutionally derived knowledge and the aesthetic disposition. One such art work is Michael Parekowhai’s “Bunnies” that references objects from popular culture and attempts a social comment about colonialism but does so in a way that only makes sense via knowledge of art history and the academic discourses of postmodernism and postcolonialism. The study also finds that there are art works that are probably accessible to a wide audience because of their clear connection to social issues. There is some success in Scape’s attempt to exhibit accessible artwork and, overall, the festival’s role in explaining the way that art works contributes to making art a less a part of a restricted culture. Indeed, Bordieu argues for the role of “public education in culturally skilling the population” to break down elitism in the public sphere.
This study by Eric Forster, conceptualises Christchurch’s public space as a domain of conflicting tastes and that there will inevitably be disagreement when one particular group uses the space to assert the authority of their own taste. The study could of, perhaps, included an audience reception ethnography to ascertain more clearly the accessibility of the artworks in Scape. Nonetheless, common sense and the differences between popular taste and high art taste delineated by Bordieu provide a satisfactory framework to judge the accessibility of the art.