Redistributing power? A poetics of participation in contemporary arts.

Douglas, Anne

Abstract

Imagine a man standing in a covered market place. Other stallholders around him sell fruit and vegetables, clothes and household goods. However, he is undertaking an altogether different kind of exchange. He offers to insure the shoppers and other stallholders in the market place against the loss of mystery in contemporary life. He invites members of the public to contribute their personal examples of mystery in exchange for an insurance certificate and a jar of two pence coins. He receives a rich and unexpected range of experiences from lost keys to a possessed mobile phone. The Insurance Stall, 21 – 23 November 2006 is the first part of a four-part project, The Preston Market Mystery Project (2006 – 8) by the artist John Newling. Three full days of running the Insurance Stall from dawn to dusk in Preston Market in November 2006 resulted in the collection of 280 mysteries: Mystery, as a kind of truth that is incomprehensible to reason, is familiar to us. Many of us have been in, or observed, situations when something inexplicable has occurred. An object goes missing, never to be found or the cause of odd sounds in the house is never discovered. There are hundreds of small events that seem to be beyond our understanding. Other incidents of mystery are miraculous in their form. The recovery, against reason, from a terrible illness; the happenstance of circumstances that prevent an awful incident; an extraordinary event in nature, the like of which has never been experienced before, all are witness to mystery in the world. In the second part of the project, Voicing Mysteries March 2007, Newling read out the mysteries one by one from a spot-lit golden lectern in the same market place assembled at the key five entrances into the market. The readings took place after market hours beginning at twilight and demarcating a threshold 'where our dreams and thoughts coalesce'. It continued deep into the night. In this way, the private thoughts and experiences of individuals willing to take part in this work in its preliminary stages were gifted back, ceremoniously, within a public space in the form of a public proclamation. In part three the following June, The Knowledge Meal, individuals whose contributions stood out were invited to a formal, beautifully produced meal. Again, this was held in the market place and after hours. The exchange had been prepared carefully through correspondence beforehand between the 40 individuals about the peculiarities of their mysteries. The public was encouraged to view the whole ritual.

Book Type	Monograph
Online Publication Date	Dec 31, 2018
Publication Date	Dec 31, 2018
Deposit Date	Jul 28, 2023
Publicly Available Date	Jul 28, 2023
Publisher	University of Bristol
Series Title	Connected communities foundation series
ISBN	9780993552823
Keywords	Artist researchers; Art in public life; Arts projects; Contemporary art practice
Public URL	https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2023630
Publisher URL	https://connected-communities.org/index.php/connected-communities-foundation-series/

Redistributing power? A poetics of participation in contemporary arts.

Douglas, Anne

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