Contemporary Laboratory: experimentations in the inside patio. November 5, 2014, Casa Daros. Photo: Jessica Gogan, with interventions from Michel Schettert.

House 7 – The Spectator-Artist in the Collective Performance

Michel Schettert

What does the artist know when he doesn’t know the appearance of his artwork? Art as a collective performance, a becoming, hides the answer in the gesture of each spirit accomplice, whether in the position of the public or of the artist. Both of them become spectators while their mutual uncertainty re-inaugurates futures at every moment of the performing act. Each gesture, from whomever it comes, becomes a spectacle conference that happens in a multiple space-time. There, it is possible to imagine, look, listen, and feel, under the condition of un-totality.

This condition is specific to performances that conduct their actions in a fragmented space-time – dislocated and simultaneous. It can be verified when artists and the public mingle, provoking crossings of uncertainty. I was affected by such circumstances as an artist and a spectator and I don’t really know what happened at Casa Daros on December 12, 2014. Although I had a “script” in mind I couldn’t participate in every action. The whole came in parts. My only certainty is that nobody saw everything. It was as if I was in a card game in which the black cards were the public, the red ones were the artists, and the back was the spectator. By shuffling this deck I am first of all a spectator and when I draw a card I can become an artist or the public; I can act or react without leaving my condition of spectator. However, this game has marked cards. The artists know the floating pre-intentions. They were present during the whole planning of the performance, and during the rehearsals, they stopped time so they could replay the game in space. They tried out the strategies and even decided to change some of them. They put some decisions aside and made new ones, always engaged in team work, even if they disagreed. That is to say, when one imagines the game previously, one is legitimate as an artist. But on the other side, it is only possible to look, listen and feel the unfolding of the collective actions (including the public) when one has the typical curiosity of a spectator. That’s how I feel: I am an artist-spectator.

Thus, my condition of un-totality limits the development of my receptive instrument in a determined physical space and this fact excludes me from parts of the collective performance I helped to elaborate. I also know my curiosity isn’t enough when it comes to accessing spaces simultaneously. For those reasons, a few essential questions come to my mind: How can I talk about an artwork of which I’m part when I don’t fully know it? Do I belong to this artwork in its entirety? If nobody saw the whole artwork, who belongs to it? Look, Imagine, Listen, Feel is an individually collective work in which the creators are affected by the idea of un-totality and it puts into question the undefined nature of the artist, and I believe the spirit of the contemporary artist operates in this gap.