Week 6

Week 6

In today's lesson the rest of my group and i went on a walk recording audio for our final performance (for which the layout had changed in my absence, we were now recording audio but no one really knew why), we used a phone to record the audio which was a mistake as there was too much background noise, but nevertheless we powered on making adjustments to the locations in which we wanted to gather sound samples, we varied through a range of experiments such as speaking directly at the microphone part of the phone, or cupping the mic to achieve less background noise. in the end it was decided that there was too much noise so we downloaded the music samples online.

Freshwater, H (2009) Theatre & Audience, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.1-27

Freshwater begins by explaining that the audience is just as important to a performance than the performance itself, and that this is a fairly new discovery as before the 20th century it was mostly unacknowledged.
She lets us know that directors have now began to leave performance unorganized, n longer acquiring a specific location. Freshwater then finishes highlighting that theater doesn't need a costume or props to become a performance.

O’Donnell, D (2006) ‘An Aesthetic of Civic Engagement’ in Social Acupuncture - A Guide to Suicide, Performance and Utopia, Toronto: Coach House Books, pp.25-45

 Darren O'Donnel is not in favor of the role that art plays in the influence of society. His view is that art is rather powerless in its ability to change the world. He goes on to compare this to the understanding of how the individual is almost powerless to change society. He then goes on to explain 'activism art', a form of art that carries political and social contents, that may not look like art but carries within it critical messages

Week 5

Week 5

This week was Tutorial week, my tutorial is next week. but i'm using my time to update my blog and brainstorm some ideas that will hopefully help me when it comes to the end of the semester.


Ridout, N (2009) Theatre & Ethics, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.45-70

In 'theater and ethics' ridout examines the connection that politics theater and ethics all share. Theater usually involves a moral/ethical side that gets a moral/ethical response from the spectators, making the audience not just passive watchers but an involved audience capable of also exploring political and ethical issues. He then goes on to show that Shakespeare had a role to play in the analysis of theater.
He then discusses the political work that was done by Bertolt Brecht and the political message he wanted to get across. Identifying his ethical teaching and how Brecht’s theater practices are a medium for scrutinizing social life.

Nicholas Ridout states that Brecht’s dramatic practice is a process of clarity. Brecht’s ''the decision”, is a play where, four socialist agitators report back to their mission to broaden communist teachings to the people of Mukden, and is a clear example.

What i'd Like to Acheive With My Work

What I'd Like to Achieve With My Work

I really liked the Kelleher reading and its the idea of using art and theater to explore opinionated issues that really rang true with me. I would like to make art that challenges opinion and lets me communicate complex ideas of social change to the audience, i myself am an opponent of capitalism as i find its an outdated system no longer apropriate for the needs of the people that rely on it.

i would like to present something with a lot of depth and hidden meaning, something you really have to pick apart and understand and make your own opinion of, something that would get people talking and motivated to approach one another and change things at their own whim.

Week 4

Week 4

 I was absent for week four but got updated on the readings and an outline of what happened in class.

 Kelleher, J (2009) Theatre & Politics, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.16-31

Kelleher starts off by explaining that theater is a way to identify, explore and argue opinions, allowing an audience to examine the artists construction of how he/her sees the truth.

Kelleher then explains that narratives like the one in this place are largely relatable to most of the audience members and that the characters hold familiar aspects audiences that will connect with groups in culture. He then states the importance of creating this comfort level with the audience and says that by conjuring up work that audiences can relate to it renders them permeable and unlocked to political communication within the work.

 Glissant, E (1990) ‘Poetics of Relation’ in Bishop, C (2006) Participation – Documents of Contemporary Art, London and Massachusetts: Whitechapel & MIT Press pp.71-78

Glissant starts off talking about the awareness that the bonds between people are found through society. This is mainly acheived by the way in which social groups are generated, they  hold their own traits which show and instantly differ them from other groups. Sometimes the entire range of societies endeavour to make their own distinctiveness apparent.  This is done by promoting these traits that define them as a group. Using their sense of Culture and the Nation’s individual power to describe and build the basis of their identity as a group.

Week 3

Week 3

We began this class by talking about last weeks readings and in the following group discussion a lot of points were made which helped me to understand the readings as when i read them alone i found these two particularly  hard to grasp.

We then started working on our piece, as we were in a very large group of around 8 people it proved very difficult to get everyone to concentrate and focus their efforts but a few of us separated ourselves from the main group and began brainstorming.
we came up with the idea to get people to stop for a cup of tea and a biscuit and find out about them, exploring ideas of self-identity and communal perception.

Then we went on a walk just around the corner to a rooftop space where a previous performance had been held. there was two brick walls painted with words that the inscribers wished someone had told them. i felt that this showed us as a class that a performance doesn't have to be a performance in the general traditional sense, but it can also be a thing you wouldn't generally regard as a performance.

After the car park Claire took us to the steps outside Stratford station to observe and to also scout for a location in which our performance could be held, this seemed to be a day in which most of the people in class had very low energy as i remember most people just sat on the steps complaining about how cold it was/tired they were, nevertheless our group solidified our plans to do our performance inside Stratford market.

Banes, S (1993) ‘Equality Celebrates the Ordinary in Johnstone, S (2008) The Everyday – Documents of Contemporary Art, London and Massachusetts: Whitechapel & MIT Press pp.113-119

Banes starts off by talking about egalitarianism and john cage, john cage created music using objects found around the house and his view was that the noises made by these homemade instruments were just as likeable as noises made from purpose-built musical instruments.

In that time in society, the usual was praised and the unusual cast aside and ignored, with this Banes then elaborates on Cage again stating that the work of Cage changed the norm into popular culture and performances from after then started to focus on everyday actions too. 

Sheringham, M (2007) ‘Configuring the Everyday’ in Johnstone, S (2008) The Everyday – Documents of Contemporary Art, London and Massachusetts: Whitechapel & MIT Press pp.141-147

Sheringham starts off asking the question ''should we pay attention to the everyday?'' the 'everyday' is a compilation of constructs, happenings and things that bond us as we nearly all experience them. Sherringham then goes on to say that these everyday actions  should not be ignored, as the everyday actions we do play a vital role in our possibly new everyday actions for the future.

Week 2

Week 2

Class began today by having a group discussion about the reading from last week.

 We then went on  a walk around Stratford listening to a track (http://mappingyourmanor.com/locations.) of a woman named Lucy Harrison explaining how Stratford has changed over the years and this combined with the walk that we were doing turned into a feast for the imagination (when i could get my headphones working properly) being able to visualize her words and her imagined surroundings.

In this class we also exchanged maps that had a destination and a piece of music. [STAMINA/CHURCH]

Here are my directions for Soriya -

• Exit Stratford Station
• Go through the Stratford market and exit on opposite side
• Cross the road to the church
• Go inside the Church
• Press play

I chose the song 'Stamina' By the artist Tech n9ne, its basically 40 seconds of a rapper rapping over the sound of an ak-47 machine gun, i thought it: contrasting, absurd and ultimately, fitting.

Group performance: New and old Stratford 

We were put in groups this lesson (Me, Lanray, Ellis and Joshua) and we focused on the telling of how ssmall buisnesses in stratfor could not cope with the pressure that the new Stratford Westfields center has put on them and we decided to voice that in the form of a short scene where the shopkeeper (me) has some people arrive into the shop and he overhears them stating that they saw something similar and cheaper in the new Westfield center and then it goes into a monologue about how things have changed for the shopkeeper as he reveals some of Stratfords history.

 Debord, G. ‘Society of the Spectacle’, Eastbourne: Soul Bay Press, pp 113-119

 In  Guy Debord's 'Society of the Spectactle' he comments critically on how society is managed and how we change our surroundings to fit the ideals of society, ultimately leading towards Urbanism, this is seen as a threat to nature and human nature. this all leads up to the separation of people and the combined effects of capitalism and Urbanism together lead to a great amount of separation which is used to control people. he then goes on to state that some cases the countries city is like a power hub which spreads and effects everything around it constantly changing the environment.

 Hussey, A. ‘The Map is not the Territory’: The Unfinished Journey of the Situationist international’ in Whybrow, N. (Ed) (2010) Performance and the Contemporary City, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan pp. 94-105

 In ''the map is not a territory'' Hussey starts off by analyzing the group of artists and other creative professionals that came out of europe around 1957 called 'Situationalists' who tried to tried to save art from the clutches of capitalist control and were largely objected to urbanisation, claiming that city life destroyed human nature. Debord's view was that a Derive’ was the most effective way a Situationist could discover, identify and experience the artistic quality of a city.

'Revisited place'

I chose to revisit Wandsworth shopping center as the last time i was there was years ago when i finished secondary school and i have lots of memories there.

I sat down on a bench inside the shopping center and decided to just relax and take in the surroundings and i was immediately drawn to the fact that there used to be two levels to the shopping center and now there was just one and all the shop had really high ceilings giving the impression of the ground floor of the Stratford Westfield center. Here are a few more changes i noticed:

• There is now a posh deli food court where 'shoezone' used to be
• The whole place looks shiny and new
• The market now catered to foreigners as it has a mini polish market inside
• the type of people shopping were more posh as the new upmarket shops had been installed