A study of the art object as performative

My research project explores conventions in art-making and viewing via the notion of the performative art object. The performative (derived from J.L. Austin and Judith Butler’s formulations of the word) is here used predominantly as a term to denote a generative, experiential and iterative process (in this case outlined by art theorist Barbara Bolt) in which intuitive or playful actions of both artist and spectator dictate the route of research. The project, following an A/r/tographical cycle of theoriapraxis-poesis (or theory/research - doing/learning - art/making) as defined by Rita Irwin, thus investigates the relations inherent between artists, spectators or viewers, and objects, and how these may change according to the spaces they are conceived in; from art gallery to urban “non-art” environments. It deals with the inclusion of process or performativity within, or in relation to the art object and how this take on the traditionally static object may have the capacity to change how artworks are envisaged, and more significantly, how they are received, in terms of the effects they (in combination with the viewer) have on the world around them. Blurred in the context of performativity, the art object may become a means of documenting process and in a sense may act as a ‘prop’ for artistic research. This enquiry has involved the study of process and play, as related to creative practice, via a series of object-based events or interventions (including gallery exhibitions and other “non-art” events initiated by the artist outside of conventional art-related space) which have been documented and included in the theoretical research as a means of providing a first-hand narrative of theoretical ideas put into practice. Here Diana Taylor’s understanding of interrelated modes of storing and enacting knowledge as posed in the notion of the archive and repertoire has been utilised as a means of collecting and collating performative and ephemeral research. These events/interventions have further served as a means of gauging viewer interaction and participation, thus actively involving the viewer in the creative act. Jacques Rancière’s notion of the emancipated spectator is here utilised to activate the role of the viewer. In this regard, Martin Heidegger’s concept of handiness or handling serves as a means of “emancipating” spectators by encouraging tactile viewership. It is my intent to open up or reveal new modes of thinking or doing within the viewer when he or she enters a state of performative play within these events. Here the status of the art object is challenged and in this way has the potential to subvert or confront problematic repetitions, both in the identity of the viewer and the space occupied in each event