Performing in the gallery
With Josephine Touma Art Gallery of New South Wales
CHALLENGE
Performance in art museums is nothing new, from the live music that invigorates late- night programs to character-led tours and performance art pieces. But how often do we tap the potential of performance to transform the direct experience of the artwork and draw new, distinctly contemporary meanings from them? Working with performing arts companies to create unique, commissioned pieces that actively engage with and re- interpret the artworks—and staging their performances inside exhibition spaces— the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) has been working to push the potential of performance further.
STRATEGY
There are as many ways to appreciate or interpret an artwork as there are audiences, but how does a public art museum represent this multiplicity? AGNSW’s public programming team has found success in bringing the performing arts into the museum as a means for audiences to experience art in a new way. AGNSW’s public programming team took this consideration and ran with it, rethinking of the gallery as a destination for creative storytelling. Designing a public programme transforms into crafting a public invitation to come and experience art in a completely new way.
AGNSW has collaborated with several local performing arts institutions and performing artists to create original programmes inspired by and performed within exhibition spaces:
Nude Live was produced in partnership with Sydney Dance Company for the Nudeexhibition. This ground-breaking performance, part of the Sydney Festival, saw seven nude dancers performing across various rooms in the exhibition simultaneously, choreographed in response to the artworks therein. The audience was immersed in the spectacle and made new, emotional connections with the artworks. Special performances were scheduled for a new, never before prospected audience segment: nudists, who attended the show unclothed.
– “I felt we were in the art, surrounded by the art, being connected to the art through the dancers, and ultimately ourselves becoming the art.”
Poetic Threads, created in partnership with Australia’s premier organisation for new poetic works, Red Room Poetry, accompanied The Lady and the Unicorn exhibition as part of Sydney Writers Festival. Presenting in the centre of the famous tapestries, spoken word performers brought unique interpretations to the audiences. The event brought through a more youthful and diverse audience for an exhibition of mediaeval tapestries than anyone initially expected.
– “Through poetry I saw the Lady and the Unicorn in ways I never expected. The art became real and alive.”
RESULTS
Cultivate partnerships with major arts companies and festivals.
Seek out authentic connections with the artworks without being either too literal or forced.
Trust that your creative partners will forge fresh interpretations of the artwork.
Work with quality performance-makers who are willing to take a risk and engage deeply with the works of art to create something magical for audiences.