Time in Art.

Having spent a week-long personal retreat in Banff at Interactive Screen 1.0, I have had some opportunities to experience an incredibly diverse range of interdisciplinary art. Admittedly, I have some frustration with some of the art that I experienced. This was more than the "that's not my thing" kind of frustration or rejection that we all encounter at some point. There was a disconnect for me, for some pieces.

First, understand that I have enough communication theory knowledge to make me dangerous, so if anyone has comments to offer that point me in the direction of sources for this area of the ideas presented in this article, please chime in!

At first I thought I was, in fact, experiencing the "I don't get" reaction that is often the case with artwork that is pushing the boundaries and exploring new territories of human expression. Still, this nagging feeling wouldn't go away. Then, during a panel discussion about the nature of art versus design, I began to reflect on my own practice of blending theatre and digital media. I realized that the artist defines a state for their audience.

The challenge for an audience is when they are presented with cues that tell them to expect a certain kind of performance. For example, when an audience is asked to arrive at a certain time, it implies a starting time for a sequence of events that will make no sense if the beginning is missed. If the audience is presented with an opening and closing time, then the implication is that the show has no beginning middle and end. The audience has the freedom to come and go independently of one another.

When artists present work that offer no beginning/middle/end structure when they have set up their audience, even with the most subtle of cues, to expect that structure, they are playing with fire. This can often backfire on the artist and people are left missing the point of their piece. An author would not randomize the pages of a book for effect, why do performance artists ignore the cues they give their audience.

In Banff, I encountered exactly that situation. I attended a piece created by Rory Middleton called "Meet Me in the Woods." In this piece, the audience encounters a musician in the woods. Much like encountering a rare sighting of an elk or deer, the audience is able to observe this musician without the musician's awareness. I had the opportunity to chat with Rory a bit and get a stronger sense of his intentions. I shared my thoughts about perhaps trying to set a range of time rather than setting a start time. That resonated for him because he really wanted to play against the feeling of "setting the stage." In fact, he wanted to turn off a spotlight (necessary because the event occurred at dusk) because he worried the effect made it too theatrical. I am curious to learn if he chooses to offer the time range and what result it has with the audience.

Performance art is a unique blend of the alinear arts (painting, writing, sculpting, etc.) and linear arts (theatre, dance, music). Some performance art places linear art behaviours in an alinear experience.

Time is such an important element in an artist's work. Thinking about the cues that you give an audience as an artist and how you can manage those cues in an effective way is vital. Much the same way an artist might manipulate typeface, colour palette, or tonal dissonance, so too the performance artist might manipulate the subtle messages they send an audience experiencing their work. Intentionally reversing expectations is fine, just be prepared for the ramifications.