Post by Anthony Schrag
Part 2
Interestingly, one of the essays that was firing around was Claire Bishop’s Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics which related to this notion of social cohesion. To paraphrase her (quoting Laclau and Mouffe): “a democratic society is one in which relations of conflict are sustained, not erased”. She further clarifies using the words of Rosalyn Deutsche: “Conflict, division, and instability, then, do not ruin the democratic public sphere; they are conditions of its existence.” By this she means that the utopian ideal where ‘everyone gets along’ is an impossibility, and instead we must embrace these conflicts and divisions as a natural and positive part of a democratic culture. They allow different viewpoints, different histories, different perspectives – and these must be nurtured as a natural extension of a functioning societal framework. To erase ‘Conflict, division, and instability’ (I call it ‘risk’) is contrary to the very nature of democracy, and to attempt to do that touches on the difficult praxis as “socially engaged artworks as social engineering.’ – i.e., trying to engineer a community towards a relationship that might not naturally exist.
Inasmuch, I am interested in developing a “public artwork” that does not necessarily “cross the divides” but recognizes the divide as a natural and sometimes positive geography of any culture. Indeed, as a site of constant refugees and as a border-town, Shoreditch (and Hackney) invokes this image of division. Additionally, the word ‘Shoreditch’ most probably comes from the Old Saxon ‘Sewer Ditch’ and was probably a stretch of sewer water that divided regions; split one side from the other. The projects I am looking to do when I return in June/July look at the Regent’s Canal as a metaphor for “divisive state”, and attach a few mock-ups/suggestions for your enjoyment and/or giggles. They’re rough sketches, and I’m still lurching around for their true format; how to manifest their existence as something that is ‘live’ and not a bit of ‘performance art’.
And that’s where you find me today: bumbling around in the dark, sewer waters of division, performance, public art and fear. But this is a good thing, in all this fumbling around in these new and uncharted waters, I’ve seen a whole new menagerie of creatures to catalogue and potential beasts to tame.
