unrehearsed theatrum mundi

Whilst my sister Rosie was visiting this week we talked about art jobs and opportunities in Newcastle and Glasgow. Although she has done internships at Sorcha Dallas and bits and pieces of voluntary work for Transmission and other places (plus, crucially, a degree in Art History at Glasgow University, which she tailored to contemporary art history – artists such as Matthew Barney etc), it seems that positions which come up now, she is either over qualified for (as places specify volunteers with no prior experience) or else under qualified (where PHD students/graduates are taking on even the unpaid internships for galleries)…

In Newcastle, the situation isn’t quite the same… if you’re a motivated, astute practitioner and want to be involved in the gallery aspects of the art world, there are plenty of opportunities available if you’re prepared to negotiate what you require in terms of experience/skills development, alongside what the institution requires of you as a volunteer…

In the past I’ve volunteered for a number of places in Newcastle and Gateshead including The Mushroom Works, Globe Gallery and Workplace… all of these have taught me different things, but predominantly that, volunteering is a two way exchange. You need to enter into that relationship with a gallery not only knowing what you can give to them, but also being able to trust that they will provide something of equal worth to you. Whether it’s building your confidence, opening up networking opportunities, or providing experience, it’s important to always be mindful of this relationship and make sure it is, as much as possible, an equilibrium.

It’s very easy for places to (sometimes inadvertantly) treat the volunteer as an unpaid, menial serf, but this only does disservice to everyone involved. I’m not saying that, as volunteers, we shouldn’t sweep up the rubbish or scrub the floors, but rather that this should be balanced with activities which help our own development e.g. admin tasks, writing press releases, constructing exhibition furniture etc. And I’ve spoken to a number of volunteers who regarded it as the galleries’ responsibility to provide the opportunities which catered to the volunteers needs/ aspirations, but as a guy once said “naybody has a glass heed”. As in every relationship, communication is the most important part of the gallery/volunteer exchange, and it is the volunteers reponsibility, just as much as it is the galleries, to be clear from the outset about what they want, what they can provide, and what they expect.

Dogtooth Kynodontas

The feeling of guilty bewilderment a person gets upon arriving five minutes late into a quiet, subtitled screening (and squeezing in beside a stranger, knocking them with your beer bottle) didn’t subside with this film… even after we were well settled into our seats, happily munching on peanut m&ms, the confusing sense of alienation continued with the aberrant and impenetrable relationships we were witnessing… a woman, talking like a girl, whilst sitting in a bath tub and speaking an impenetrable, insider language about taps and play to two other ‘kidults’ set the tone for a film which was so ‘other’ it left one feeling like a continually stupefied voyeur…

Kynodontas is a surprising gem of Greek cinema, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (and 2009 Cannes Film Festival Award winner). The basic premise of the film is of a couple who keep their 3 children confined within the borders of their home and prescribed routines, in order to preserve their child-like ‘innocence’. The children have been indoctrinated to believe that the outside world is a dangerous and inhospitable place, with only their father permitted to leave the confines of the house every day in his car (a vehicle of shelter against the exorbitant threats of that other world). And the only outsider permitted to enter the closited world, a woman Christina, whose sole duty it is to be an outlet for the son’s natural ‘urges’.

The totalitarian control of the children – which keeps them in a perpetual oedipal bond – evokes parallels both to the Josef Fritzl case in Austria, but also to the conditioning of reality in regimes such as Nazi Germany and Communist North Korea. Reality for them is so acutely manufactured that when outside words or concepts seep into their bubble, the parents dismiss them, or rework them into ‘innocent’ explanations; under their reign “pussy” becomes “…a large lamp… when it goes out a room is plunged into darkness…” or “zombies” are explained as “…small, yellow flowers”.

The children characters in this work represent the antithesis of the ideals of the ‘noble savage’ or Rousseau’s idealized notion of primitivism, and the reality when those ideals are put into practice. Namely that the carnal, animalistic and undesirable aspects of human nature will manifest even without the corrupting influences of society. Perhaps more so.

This is a beautiful film, shot in such a way that the immaculate, and antiseptic environment of the home, and it’s claustraphobic atmosphere, is heightened. The perfect shots are only ever ruptured when the outside world defiantly assserts itself (or is introduced) upon the confined nuclear, stagnant world of the family.
I left this film feeling utterly shaken. It’s no exagerration to say I sat in the bar next door with my friend for an hour as we waited for its impact to subside enough for us to function like normal human beings again…..

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