We have a situation! im kunstGarten Graz

Participatory streaming from London at kunstGarten Graz

Schaumbad – Freies Atelierhaus Graz in cooperation with kunstGarten: Streaming of a live, trans-border, online-offline participatory performances addressing current cross-cultural European issues. Moderation: Christina Lederhaas (zweite liga für kunst und kultur)

Four “situations” are created, in France, Netherlands, UK and Austria, between March-May 2013. Each involve a 4-day workshop and a performance and discussion event, using the online platform UpStage (www.upstage.org.nz).

In each location, a current topical issue was chosen as the theme and researched; from this a performance was created, that shared stories and posed questions to creatively frame the specific situation. After each performance, the audience - both online and at physical venues - participated in a discussion that imagined creative solutions to the situation.

The project was supported by a grant from the European Cultural Foundation.

Situation London: e-waste!

The first situation took place in London, at Furtherfield Gallery in the middle of Finsbury Park. It was March and snow was falling, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the 16 participants.

Earlier in the year, artist Tom Keene (Furtherfield) had made a connection with Bright Sparks, a local organisation who successfully tackle the issue of e-waste at the community level by providing affordable repair and recycling services for old electrical appiances. They were able to give us a lot of information about electronics recycling and we had a fascinating visit to their workshop and storage space. However, our research soon showed that Bright Spark’s proactive attitude is unfortunately not widespread: although the UK has facilities capable of recycling 100% of its e-waste, an incredible 77% (estimated) is being shipped off-shore to illegal dumping sites, primarily in West Africa.

During the workshop there was much discussion and research about the topic of e-waste, from how our own personal actions contribute to the problem, to the humanitarian and environmental disaster occuring in places like Ghana where children are living, working and dying on toxic rubbish heaps - made from our waste. We decided to use the popular children’s party game “pass the parcel” to structure our performance and follow the typical journey of an electronic gadget. What begins as a gift ends up all too quickly as e-waste.

The particular architecture of the gallery inspired the creation of an e-waste installation - from materials kindly loaned by Bright Sparks; the audience in the gallery could move through the installation, and parts of the cyberformance were streamed out from within it.

As well as the online audience, a gathered audience at KunstGarten Graz (Austria) participated in the networked event, via the text chat and a live audio-visual stream. From the gallery in London, Tom led a very lively post-performance discussion - everyone had a lot to say about their personal experiences with e-waste as well as the larger global problem. Putting the responsibility and cost of reducing and recycling e-waste back onto the companies who are making the products - and the profits - was generally agreed as fundamental to solving the problem of e-waste.