What Are We Doing?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a very simplistic level, from my understanding our group discussions, this is what we're trying to achieve:

The practical task set to us in DRM3010F: Contemporary Performance (Subtitle: Breaking Boundaries) is that we have to create a contemporary performance.

The task requires a group to break the perceived boundaries of traditional performance i.e. we must break the rules, as explained by Leila Anderson on 18 February 2011. And yet the task comes with certain rules and requirements. These include a minimum number of members within a group and that the draft and final performances must occur on certain dates at certain times. We note the contradiction therein and respond thus: We will break the rules you have set us. We will perform as and when we see fit and document it HERE.

We will go further, by questioning the nature of performance and performativity, as discussed at the introductory lecture with Mark Fleishman on 17 February 2011. We review the question of when performance occurs. Is it performance if the audience, and sometimes unwitting performers, are not conscious that a performance is in progress?

So, how do we create a piece that does this? We live a double life. We lie. We create a fake avant-garde piece exploring concepts of ownership and possession, as documented on our flog (the blog our lecturers and fellow students are aware of and have access to). They perceive that we are adhering to the task by performing at designated times etc. We interact and discuss it with them. We create preconceived and premeditated interactions amongst ourselves, that are observed and reacted upon by those around us. But it's all a lie, and in consciously lying, we are performing. In interacting with us, our lecturers, fellow students, families, friends, acquaintances, not only observe the performance, but participate in it.

That's how they get owned.