PARTICIPATION

“participation is not a particular quality; nor does it mean anything. It is like saying “hammer” when in fact you want to build a house” (Miessen, M. The Nightmare of Participation, 2011).

Participation is a vague and dangerous word and with it comes all sorts of questions on its authenticity and relationship with idealistic nostalgia. With my work there is also the assumption that it might just be used to create enforced empathy.

“recent talk on participation assumes that the closer you get to something or someone, the more empathy you develop. This is a scary assumption” (Miessen, M. The Nightmare of Participation, 2011).

I do obviously nod to this misuse of participation in my work by including overt structures and parameters that specifically embellish or represent the urge to create small utopias like in Read Through and Paid Opportunity. The true value of each situation, however, lies in the subjective and disparate nature of the participant and their conflict with the notion of taking part in it, how they can shape it and how they can leave it. Where participation, therefore, becomes interesting for me is at the point where the witness can cross over to participant or the participant can cross over to witness.

“The courageous audience member can turn from the witness of a shared event into a participatory performer, engaging actively with their own narrative inventions in what happens.” (Gob Squad Reader, 2010)

Once they have made the cross-over they can then be encouraged to bring their own narrative and imagination to the situation being helped along the way by those underlying parameters. The full realisation of this process occurred with Think of Someone You Know and later What Are Other People Like_Part1.