Here’s a local example of a great relational work that combines performance, endurance, music and participation. Toronto artist Jon Sasaki’s I Promise It Will Always Be This Way was staged at Lamport Stadium for the 2008 incarnation of Nuit Blanche.
From Sasaki’s website:
For I Promise It Will Always Be This Way, twenty-six costumed team mascots took the field at Lamport Stadium, attempting to whip the crowd into a fervent frenzy. Throughout the twelve-hour endurance piece, they pulled out all the stops with their mascot shenanigans, while “Jock Rock” played over the loudspeakers. As the night progressed and physical fatigue began to set in, the mascots required cigarettes, naps, snacks and bathroom breaks. Plush heads were removed and mascot illusions were broken, revealing the performers to be human after all…capable of feeling cold and weary. However, flying in the face of all expectations, the mascots’ morale never dwindled. An unbelievably supportive, ever-cheering, crowd reciprocated the enthusiasm, creating a touchingly symbiotic back-and-forth of support. What was intended to be a much darker comment on futility and pathos ended up being a very moving moment of social generosity.
Here’s a video of the event:
[Image by Sweet One; cropped from this original. Shared under Creative Commons.]
This entry was written by , posted on October 26, 2009 at 8:08 PM, filed under Research and tagged endurance, jon sasaki, nuit blanche, performance. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
I h started working in relational work in 1992, with my first participatory installation. It was a tough going. No galleries would show the work. I had a show in a commercial gallery and spectators had a hard time with it as did the gallery. The codes that are formed around the notion of our handling of art were firmly entrenched in the minds of patrons. I started building relational works again 10 years later with a noise based installation in 1992, ITCH. It has toured most of South America and was bought by a museum in Sao Paulo Brazil. I have been doing relational works since. The difference between my work and the work you have show on your webpage is that I facilitate the availability of the viewer to become the artist. I feel relational work should involve participants in a co-authourship of the work. My works are activated by the participant being hands on. My installation Hoi Polloi invites the viewer to walk the red carpet. While walking the red carpet, participants are greeted by the sounds of adoring fans, paparazzi, the sounds of clicking cameras and the flashes of cameras. I beleive this allows this gives the spectator the illusion of being famous if only for 15 seconds. My other works also play with fame through the experience of being not just part of the work but controlling it.
Mike Hansen
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your note! Your comment is proof of the broad range of art that is possible under the umbrella “relational work.” Certainly tinygrants encourages the production of all types of work that can be considered relational, not just what I’ve posted on the blog. I will be posting more in the coming days.
Marissa