IN|FORM | Creating Options
Photo by Amber Haines
Creating Options: Agency for the witness, the participant and the in-between
Contributed by Ashleigh Musk & Michael Smith
We recently spent a week at HOTA, Home of the Arts on Bundjalung and Kombumerri Country thanks to an Ausdance QLD Public Space and Participation Residency. Our intentions - learn the barriers present in our creative practice and how to make our work more accessible as a whole, with particular focus on our current work-indevelopment Fertile Ground.
At the outset, we acknowledge we are at the beginning of an ongoing, ever-evolving process of understanding different areas of access, disability and inclusion. We acknowledge our need for continued learning around terminology, research and the lived experience of disability.
Key Reflections: accessible engagement and participation within interactive, live performance.
Participation
Within our practice, we gravitate towards creating work where the audience is invited to participate - whether that’s by simply re-orienting themselves in the space or through more hands on (re)building of sets and objects, to being directly physical with the performers. There’s an aliveness within the real time navigation of audience and performer, a spontaneity that allows the work to evolve and shift in response to this relationship. It’s personal, it’s gritty, it’s sometimes embarrassing, and it’s important to us that people have agency to participate in our work. With this at the forefront, we seek to broaden our net on what participation looks like with access and inclusion integrated into the choreography of the audience within Fertile Ground. We started simple, asking ourselves:
What is the dominant mode of perception for the work (as it currently stands)?
What and where are the barriers?
How to reimagine the gaps and integrate accessibility creatively within the conceptual frame of the work?
What resulted was a sprawling mindmap of possibility; from Auslan interpreted text to mobile set pieces to pre-show mapping and tactile offerings. But of course, the practice of audience participation means actively creating work with people, in safe and open spaces, for the participatory experience to be felt rather than conceptualised. As we develop both this work and our practice, we recognise the imperative need to continue consulting, listening and learning from artists with disability on accessible participation. This is particularly important, as we are artists without disability who cannot speak to or assume the experiences of those who identify with disability.
Intrinsic
From the onset of our creative process a term that continued to reverberate within the room was ‘universal design’, being the design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people.
This prompted a resounding “Yes” from the creative team, while simultaneously furthering our discussions on the complexities of each individual’s needs. It’s important to recognise a ‘one size fits all’ approach is rigid and somewhat of a myth, especially within a creative work that needs malleability, breath and the ability to adapt. Throughout the development of Fertile Ground we are seeking to both explore and experiment with ‘universal design’ approaches, further questioning how to embed access artistically into the body of the piece. Within the very same notion, we are cautious not to disconnect aesthetic decisions from the knowledge that these options/communicative modes are the lived experiences of a community of people, and should not be objectified. Approaching always with respect and a desire to learn.
Creating Options: Choice and Agency
We know all audiences bring their unique set of values, memories and knowledge, as well as individual preferences towards experiencing live performance. What we don’t know is how each participant will act/ react or what may prevent them from doing so. With this, choice and agency within participatory performance is important as not to assume or prescribe any one kind of interaction - where the witness, the participant and the grey areas between are all accounted for. To make decisions, we need information. From the first interaction with marketing materials until you head home post show - seeing live performance is a series of contracts between us (creators) and them (participants). It is a constant conversation to balance the tension between divulging enough information to ensure everyone understands what choice they are making in coming to see the work, without giving away the complete experience. We started with the work itself, unraveling what already exists in order to understand the key aesthetic drivers - the brick, the body, the weight. Semi non-negotiable, vital elements for a complete experience, including:
The surface of the brick contrasted with the softness of the body.
The opportunity to contribute to the ever-changing design of the space.
The texture and vibrations of the sound resonating.
These creative elements led us in our decision making, exploring where aesthetic/concept meets function/ necessity as we imagine the interrelated engagements (both in and around the work) that could provide each person with their own way of navigating Fertile Ground.
Cumulative Change
Each new discovery led us to a moment of feeling overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of what we were learning. Thankfully, through the power of the internet, we were able to see how others were engaging with audiences (we’re looking at you, Melbourne Fringe!).
It was incredible how small additions to a program - like their labelling of ‘Language No Barrier’, ‘Aural Ratings’, ‘Visual Ratings’ and ‘Content Warnings’ - can immediately shift the narrative around audience participation.
Of course, this is a festival with financial support and a team, including an Access and Inclusion Coordinator. We are independent artists, working with short chunks of time while across multiple projects. We were exceptionally lucky to be supported through this initial research week, a week of valuable time to delve into this intricate and complex area of practice.
As independent artists, we aren’t able to achieve a foolproof accessible practice overnight. Nor can we make this particular work completely accessible to all audiences. But what we can do are acts of allyship, small but tangible actions we can immediately begin to integrate into our current work in development - and in our practice moving forward.
With thanks to the ongoing collaboration of Daniele Constance (AHA Ensemble & Independent Artist). This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. Proudly supported by Ausdance QLD and HOTA, Home of the Arts.