Making It Up
A group of 20 children are sitting cross-legged on the marble floor of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It is a Sunday afternoon and they are calling out their responses to a painting by Australian artist brett Whitely, a huge canvas of mainly deep ocean blue with delicate details of the city on its fringes. Answering the simple question, what do you see? Their answers are immediate, quick and honest.
Blue, lots of blue, I see a bed, Sydney Harbour, birds, rocks, crocodile teeth, a balcony, the big sky.
This is just a snapshot of the show Making It Up performed by theatre company Open Stage Productions. It is part of the Gallery's Fundays At The Gallery program, an initiative of the Public Programs Department of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and is one of a series of free performances and activities staged every Sunday. What makes this performance different to the others on offer is that it is improvised. It is made up on the spot, hence its name. It is a series of spontaneous and original scenes and short stories based on the stimulus of the artworks and are totally reliant on the suggestions and ideas of the audience.
The show uses and incorporates the responses of the largely young audience to the artworks. The actors together with the assistance of the audience create the show. Open Stage Productions, a company consisting of three actor-improvisers, Daniel Cordeaux, Rebecca De Unamuno and myself, Monique Dykstra, devised this show especially for the Art Gallery in 2000 and have been performing it at the Art Gallery regularly since then.
Liz Gibson, Director of Public Programs approached the company with a brief to bring something to the Fundays line up that would create excitement in the gallery. She wanted to offer something that would get young children excited about art and want to be in the gallery. The idea was to dismantle any preconceptions about the gallery being a place of quiet hushed tones, where people gently walked around in respectful silence and maintained a sense of awe with the surroundings. She saw this as being particularly detrimental to younger audiences, many of whom shy away from entering the building and certainly would not consider any time spent there as fun.
The gallery itself is a large imposing sandstone structure. On the outside it can be quite overwhelming and intimidating. Regal in stature, its appearance invites a serious tone, a demure respect and sense of reservation. It is the state's leading art museum and recognised as one of Australia's foremost cultural institutions. It is situated in Sydney, and is surrounded by beautiful parklands. The Art Gallery was established in 1874 and in the late 19th century building commenced to house the collections. It has received modern additions over the years with the latest extensions being completed in 2003. It currently houses a significant collection of contemporary, 19th century Australian, Asian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. The gallery presents up to 40 exhibitions annually. It was in this environment that Open Stage was invited to make some noise, get kids excited about the art they saw, and the way they saw it.
The public Programs Department's mission statement reads:
The Public Programs Department is committed to making the gallery's permanent collections and temporary exhibitions accessible to growing audiences. Through wide-ranging education and public programs, museum educators aim to provide relevant information and experiences that stimulate and broaden interest, enjoyment and understanding of works of art, and provide on-going educational opportunities to all sectors of the public.
(brian Ladd – head of Public Programs AGNSW 1996)
Taking this into account and following Liz Gibson's enthusiasm and support, we (Open Stage Productions) set about to create something unique, fresh and original. Our own mission statement and personal challenge was to bring a fresh informal experience in the middle of a very formal and sometimes austere setting, and above all to make it fun. We were invited and encouraged to clear the cobwebs of the stuffy image the gallery had been saddled with. Perceived as a matronly spinster type of place, we were excited to inject some dynamic energy combined with the youthful exuberance and natural curiosity of our young audience.
We understood that our role was not of art educator. We are not art teachers. We bring no formal art training to our work. We do not presume to know what the artworks mean or what they are saying. The company's background is in theatre in education, touring improvised shows to schools around Australia. The combined experience of the actors is over 40 years performance and teaching. Our work is improvised, spontaneous theatre. It is interactive and engaging. We make it up on the spot and invite our audiences to join us and share their ideas and thoughts on what they see, think and feel.
Improvising is about being in the moment, going with your first idea, your first response, what ever that may be. Ideally it is an uncensored, free flowing response to a range of stimuli such as a question or simple direction. It might be as basic as asking for a colour, a type of food, an animal etc. We use this technique of questioning and response as the introduction to our show, an improvised tour around the gallery lasting 40-45 minutes. The basic philosophy we introduce is one of saying yes to your ideas and suggestions and to those of other people. Improvising is an exemplary form of teamwork, working together to create something original. This is the key to improvisation. No thinking required we tell our audience, and you cannot get it wrong, as there is no right or wrong answer to what you see. It is about allowing yourself to play and have fun and be open to the experiences that might arise. We encourage our audience to expect the unexpected. The company has created a show whose structure and technique allows for a safe yet creative and engaging exploration of the images and objects.
What do you see? is the first question we ask the audience when looking at an artwork. The initial target audience of children aged 6-12 years tend to be very giving and open in their responses. Their reactions are sharp, clear and incisive. Their sense of play is still very strong allowing a suspension of disbelief and availing them to engage their imaginations in an active and vocal manner.
Rather than give our audience an art lesson we are inviting them to see. We teach them to see, express what they see, the thoughts and feelings, and also share memories and experiences. The structure of the show allows them to view the artworks in an enjoyable and fun way. We invite them to engage with the works in a safe and entirely non-judgemental manner.
As adults we bring many preconceived ideas about art, what we like or do not like, what we get and what constitutes what is good. Liking the artwork or not is irrelevant. The fact that it does elicit a response is what we focus on and that is exactly the role of art, to create a reaction, positive or otherwise. What this show does is highlight these children having their own responses to these works. They are being encouraged and invited to voice them, explore them and investigate them. They are also being told that their responses are okay, they are valid and having nothing to do with being right or wrong or good or bad. They simply are what they are.
No child has ever responded with nothing, I see nothing. This has taught us that there is always something to be seen and, often, far more than adults typically allow themselves to see. When a four year old was asked what he saw when looking at a large soft sculpture of a plane that was suspended from the ceiling, he quickly replied, a flying dragon. It teaches our growing adult audience and each other to see the works through children's eyes. We have gained a clearer fresher perspective of the possibilities that lay before us. Perhaps as children we are able to allow ourselves to see more and judge less.
The show creates a fun positive environment where the audience responses help create a show that is entertaining and experiential. We use their ideas like the flying dragon and from that we create an improvised scene about this dragon. It might be based on what this dragon is looking for, how he feels, where he's going and what happens to him once he gets there. It is not about telling the story of the painting or necessarily about bringing the painting to life by portraying the characters or the situation depicted. It is about taking the response to the work that is the key. With works by indigenous artists we are unable to tell or recreate the story of the painting, as that is determined by the individual artist concerned. We can allow ourselves to share our responses to it and from that create a scene that might be influenced by its colour, largesse, and form.
It's messy, it's a drawing not a painting, it's 3-d, it's got lots of colours, she looks sad, they look happy, are typical responses.
In this way we guide the audience to use their imagination to extend the life of the painting, sculpture or drawing by vocalising and physicalising their response to it. The works live in their imaginations and ideas, and in the course of the show are encouraged and allowed to take flight. The works might suggest a time, place, period of history, a mood, relationship or an activity. The artworks provide a starting point for our scenes and stories. We encourage the audience to continue the story that the artworks suggest and inspire, and show that they need not be limited by the physical dimension of the works. We also provide the opportunity for some audience members to physically join us in our scenes. This is easily achieved as each scene is played out directly in front of the relevant artwork. They may be required to help move the actors or provide some dialogue. They volunteer themselves and then the audience can fully realise their ideas coming to life before them.
By encouraging the audience to use their imaginations and let themselves see planes as dragons we are confident the show meets the mission statement in making the artworks accessible to a growing audience. Increasingly we are witnessing a changing demographic in the audience of our show. While the target audience was originally 6-12 year olds, it has expanded significantly to include younger and older children, their parents and grandparents and general passers-by. The feedback from parents is that they delight in seeing and hearing their children respond to the works in such an informal and entertaining way. Inhibitions are lost, voices found and ideas are realised. Introducing the idea of having fun at the gallery is proving very popular.
For many children this is their first time in a gallery or museum environment. This is their first step into the world of visual images and objects. While it is common to be a passive observer of these works, it doesn't take much to voice a response, what ever it may be, to what you see. That is after all why people go to the gallery and museum, to be moved, to be inspired to be affected. It should not be an intimidating experience, rather one that is full of delight and surprise.
Our show is their introduction to viewing artworks and spending time in the gallery. By allowing them to see what they will and to trust their own ideas and thoughts, these children are then able to take this confidence to other areas of the gallery and indeed to other areas of their lives.
Open Stage has devised a show based on the gallery's permanent public collection. The artworks on display are changed approximately every six months. The volume of works available to the show are challenging and varied enough to ensure many of them being used at different times. Because of its improvised nature, the show can promise to be a new experience every time. The show is always fresh and is reinvented each time it is performed because the responses to the artworks are always different. Each person's response to the artworks is unique in itself. This makes for an original and new performance each time.
The gallery provides access to artworks to everyone irrespective of their class, race, gender or knowledge base. At the gallery art is for everybody and our show caters for both an informed audience, and one without any historical or critical background. Access for all is supported by including an Auslan interpreter at the shows providing sign language translation for hearing impaired audience members.
Our work has also been incorporated in the training program of volunteer guides at the gallery and also as an in-service course for high school art teachers. We have been invited to be part of these programs on the strength of our work and the positive responses that the show has generated. Our approach is the same, inviting the guides and teachers to simply allow themselves to see the artworks outside of a critical framework and academic context. It has rejuvenated their interest and passion for visual art and enlivened their approach to teaching their students.
The Making It Up Sunday shows continue and have also evolved into a one or two week school holiday program. The lively dynamic nature of the show has ensured its freshness and relevance to each audience member. Repeat visits are common and word of mouth publicity is proving strong. The opportunity to devise and perform this show has provided us as performers with an insight and a reminder of the child's mind and creativity. Older audience members join us in delight and realisation that the imagination is a wonderful thing. It reminds us that we all have one, however dormant and tired, and that the joy it can provide is remarkable and surprising. That one persons perspective, child or adult, can open up doors of possibility that we might not have even considered is truly exciting.
Being part of a program that encourages and actively provides a forum for this to happen is wonderful and certainly inspires us as performers and adults. Entering the world of crocodile teeth in Sydney Harbour, flying dragons and the big blue sky is an invitation to a sense of wonderment, possibility and a world of surprise. And what better place than in an art gallery, on a Sunday afternoon, for this to happen.
Monique Dykstra
Open Stage Productions
Sydney, Australia
November 2004
mdykstra@bigpond.com
Sources
brain Ladd – head of Public Programs Art Gallery of New South Wales
Liz Gibson – Director of Public Programs Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of New South Wales website – www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au