Performance
Screening:
Photos: Alan Warren and Bryan Spencer
My father was a screw.
He started with seemingly impossible ideals of social change in the Joh era and
ended a very cynical, tough as nails, one-punch man. Thirty plus years later in
2014, we find ourselves in a ‘social turn’ of contemporary art,[1]
where art is trending towards activism and our conservative governments are
selling/leasing off public interests to private concerns. A private company
working for profit could soon operate the jail my father worked in. I find
myself unable to share my father’s righteous belief in the Law when the Law and
(other Institutions like Art Institutions) are increasingly serving private
interests and the accumulation of value. Working towards the contrary, other
artists and I produce our art within the context of this ‘social turn’ to
disseminate ‘the power over’ hegemony into ‘the power with’ community. Without
the technocratic skills of hacking, I wish to interrupt the surveillance
technology with community concentration. In doing so I ask Art to take a look
at itself: what does activism from within the Institution look like, what does
it hope to achieve and how can it do so without serving private interests.
