Cab Drivers

This participatory performance is the culmination of extensive research into the social, economic and political context of the final work, in which invited visitors take part as individuals or in groups, in a taxi relay around Penzance. I drew on a history of feminist artists addressing their own invisibility as house workers including Womanhouse in LA, 1971; Castlemilk, Glasgow 1990 (for Women in Profile), and the work of the Russian performance artist Masha Chuikova. These projects have emphasized the empowerment of the service worker. It also grew out of my earlier work Perception (‘arttextiles 3’). However, 'Cab Drivers' represents a new perspective by problematising the relationship between the viewer and the provider of services, whether inside or outside the gallery. This work addressed documentation of live work, as it culminated in instant ‘playback’ of recordings of the journeys. Building on my earlier experimental performance: 'Art in the time of Reagan' (South London Gallery 1/7/06), in which the video recording was immediately projected following the performance to facilitate discussion