Punchdrunk, participation and the political : democratization within Masque of the Red Death?

Democratisation is a term frequently applied to participatory art asan indicator of its value, not necessarily by artists themselves but byarts’ organisations, producers, funding bodies, policy-makers or themedia. This article examines the ways in which democratisation mightbe understood and considers the extent to which it occurs withinPunchdrunk’s immersive performance, Masque of the Red Death. Irelate this democratisation to a personal experience of the show;to the company’s signature use of masks; and to the piece’s ‘gamelike’structure, which examines perceived divisions between the artworld and the entertainment industry. Incorporating two of the fouressential features of ‘game-play’ outlined by Roger Callois – that ofchance (alea) and vertigo (illnx) – I examine the potential the show hasto play on the ‘undecidable’ relationship between the entertainmentindustry and the art world. For example, the performance bears morethan a passing resemblance to Dickens’ World in Kent, where visitors are presented with re-enactments of Dickens’ literature in a Victorian environment not dissimilar to Punchdrunk’s immersive world of Poe. It is therefore unclear – or ‘undecidable’ – how one is defined (or funded)as art and the other as market entertainment. For Rancière, there is a danger, within contemporary exhibitions of the ‘game’, in art losing its identity and becoming indistinguishable from those produced by power and the media, or by the market’s own forms of presentatio