juliamacp-blog

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A few favourite posts

Naomi’s post on Sumugan Sivanesen’s article on models of protest by artists against and amongst institutions

This post highlights some key examples of institutional critique and it is interesting to see the different movements and various ways they address social justice. These are all excellent examples how the ways artists can challenge power structures and destabilise the authority of the museum. 

Ambrin’s post on the interview with Ronan McKenzie about her photography exhibition, A Black Body

I really like this example of a practice both empowering a marginalised community, whilst also challenging stereotypes associated with the black community. I definitely agree that there needs to be a stronger focus on representing diverse voices and bodies in Australian cultural institutions. 

James’ post on the celebritization of climate change

It is interesting to see the tensions that arise with celebrities taking action on climate change. On one hand it raises awareness, making the issue current and bringing it into the public sphere, but on the other hand, it trivialises the issue and makes it less of a political problem. I believe that it can be problematic, but in many cases it can force people in positions of power to take appropriate actions for the benefit of their communities. 

Bruno’s post on Celeste Liddle’s article on intersectionality and Indigenous feminism

This article draws attention to the need to address different forms of oppression in some community groups, such as gender and race power struggles in Indigenous female communities. This identifies that community art projects can become much more complex where multiple power struggles exist, and the importance of taking each into consideration. 

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This article reviews Richard Gadd’s comedy show, Monkey See Monkey Do. Whilst this performance is very different to Suzanne Lacey’s work, it also challenges gender norms and deals with the subject of rape. These are difficult topics to discuss as it is, however seeing them explored not just at a comedy show, but by a male, has completely thrown people off guard. It is interesting to compare this type of performance to feminist performance art. Whilst feminist art often deals with the sexualised representation of women, Gadd’s performance challenges the notion of ‘buff’ masculinity and uses a very unique means of storytelling to share his experience. 

This also raises questions of whether this is the appropriate way to approach these issues - would people that have been affected by such issues be offended or perhaps that would feel heartened and comforted to see them discussed in this manner?

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This article discusses the British Museum’s Indigenous Australia exhibition. People’s criticism towards the exhibition of its account of colonial history being too harsh, echoes some of the reactions to the Soundscape project and DiAngelo’s thoughts on white fragility, and it is interesting to see this debate roll out in the context of an institution.

A tension arises in this exhibition, as they have engaged some Indigenous communities and respected their desire to tell the violent colonial history, yet have not respected other communities, by displaying art that should be repartriated. This helps contextualize some of the thinking in Eshraghi’s interviews, such as the issue of holding institutions accountable, and demonstrates how complex it can be to create an inclusive space when multiple countries are involved.

 Did the British Museum have the right to show this exhibition at all? In contrast to Sonn and Baker’s work, they have not used participatory and creative methodologies throughout their entire process, creating a major issue with the exhibition.

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Heather Davis’ article examines how a community arts organisation in Philadelphia, engaged the community to shift a deteriorating and abandoned neighbourhood to a collective project of self-determination. The lack of institutional influence in the area allowed the community to work in ways that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible, such as building parks and houses without expert supervision and allowing community members to help build them.

 In contrast to the Shower Party work discussed by Asher Warren, this demonstrates how a lack of influence and interference from institutions can allow community arts projects to flourish, and ensure that organisations are concentrated on responding to neighbourhood needs. This highlights the importance of arts organisations, especially those whose success is based on the absence of institutions and standardised structures, to carefully consider how their operations will be affected if they expand and become institutionally influenced, and whether benefits of opening up new possibilities come at the expense of the community’s autonomy.

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This 1993 paper by Faye Ginsburg discusses the emergence of Indigenous TV, highlighting that many networks were influenced by the government and did not consult communities, resulting in commodified images of Aboriginal culture and a lack of value to these communities. This process undermined local creativity, creating a complete absence of self-determination. The Tanami Network, however, was an initiative shaped by a group of remote-living Aboriginal communities that took into account Aboriginal patterns of communication, resulting in a network that was innovative and culturally appropriate.

Butt’s article discusses the critical role of local knowledge when working with new media, and Ginsburg’s paper demonstrates the longstanding relevance of this issue, whilst also stressing the value and absolute necessity of allowing projects to be developed on local communities’ own terms.  

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Art as a climate communication tool 

In his Ted Talk, Marcus Moench examines how art can be used as a tool to create new forms of dialogue about climate change that focus on building resilience and creating solution spaces within local communities. By using art, in this case ceramics, as a tangible means for climate communication, communities can actually relate to climate change issues and as a result, gain a better understanding of them.

This demonstrates that not only can art be used as a method of presenting complicated scientific information in a way that is accessible to broad audiences, as Rachel Carson has achieved, but can also be used to tell stories and open up conversations that effectively empower communities to build resilience and make a real change.

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The art of the oppressed

In his article, MacPhee discusses the ability of street art to defy forms of power in society and give communities a voice. He uses four places as examples – Paris, Nacaragua, South Africa and Argentina – each with very different social and political contexts. In each place, those who were being oppressed in various ways (eg. due to class or race) used street art to make the systems of control in society visible.

As with the Theatre of the Oppressed, street art can be used as a mechanism to understand the social reality and make people’s oppression public. This calls attention to the value of creating a democratic space for communities, where their voices are given the power and courage to communicate their stories and messages. Whilst Boal’s thinking focuses on using theatre to achieve this, MacPhee’s article demonstrates the ability for other art practices to also have an impact.

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Kama reflects on her experiences with the Yolngu community, observing they are disadvantaged in westernised cultural spaces, as a lack of experience in this space results in a limited ability to make their own choices and express themselves. This results in an unequal power relationship where the privilege of those that identify with the dominant culture is reinforced. Feiss and Bruguera also explore the importance of addressing modes of power through which subjects are entrapped, and Kama extends our understanding of this by demonstrating how this can occur in a specific community.

 This post highlights the complexities that arise in community cultural development processes, particularly in trying to understand minority cultures, and in ensuring communities are not disadvantaged because they don’t identify with westernised culture. It is important for those looking to engage with communities to be aware of their own privilege and to ensure that everyone involved in projects has the information they need to understand the cultural space they are in.