Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...
Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...
Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...
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artificial hells<br />
London ICA in 1966. Latham’s interests bridged art, philosophy <strong>and</strong><br />
science, <strong>and</strong> can be seen in his use <strong>of</strong> books as a sculptural material from<br />
1958 on: publications are turned into monuments, burnt, incorporated into<br />
assemblages, or even submerged in a tank <strong>of</strong> piranhas. He is probably best<br />
known for his 1966 performance Still <strong>and</strong> Chew, in which he <strong>and</strong> some <strong>of</strong><br />
his students masticated a copy <strong>of</strong> Clement Greenberg’s <strong>Art</strong> <strong>and</strong> Culture<br />
borrowed from <strong>the</strong> library <strong>of</strong> St Martins School <strong>of</strong> <strong>Art</strong>. When <strong>the</strong> library<br />
requested that he return <strong>the</strong> book, Latham did so – but as a vial <strong>of</strong> chewed-<br />
up pages. (The performance caused Latham to be fi red from his job at St<br />
Martin’s, but its remains – <strong>Art</strong> <strong>and</strong> Culture [1966– 69] – were acquired by<br />
MoMA in 1970.) In <strong>the</strong> same year, 1966, Latham established APG with his<br />
partner Barbara Steveni, also trained as an artist. 4 The organisation was<br />
premised on <strong>the</strong> idea that art has a useful contribution to make to <strong>the</strong><br />
world, <strong>and</strong> that artists can serve society – not by making works <strong>of</strong> art, but<br />
through <strong>the</strong>ir verbal interactions in <strong>the</strong> context <strong>of</strong> institutions <strong>and</strong> organisations.<br />
To this end, Steveni <strong>and</strong> Latham organised placements or<br />
residencies for British artists in a range <strong>of</strong> private corporations <strong>and</strong> public<br />
bodies.<br />
Steveni recounts that <strong>the</strong> original idea for such an organisation was her<br />
initiative. She was in contact with Fluxus artists in <strong>the</strong> early ’60s, <strong>and</strong><br />
recalls how <strong>the</strong> idea <strong>of</strong> APG came to her one night in 1965 while collecting<br />
detritus for Daniel Spoerri <strong>and</strong> Robert Filliou on <strong>the</strong> Slough Trading<br />
Estate on <strong>the</strong> outskirts <strong>of</strong> West London. She realised that it might be<br />
more socially useful for artists to work inside <strong>the</strong>se factories ra<strong>the</strong>r than<br />
to use <strong>the</strong> materials ab<strong>and</strong>oned outside <strong>the</strong>m. The idea was given fur<strong>the</strong>r<br />
momentum when Steveni was invited by Frank Martin to give a lecture<br />
at St Martins on <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> artist in society, <strong>and</strong> to do a weekly questionnaire<br />
on this topic with <strong>the</strong> students. Martin encouraged her to meet<br />
Sir Robert Adeane, an infl uential chairman <strong>of</strong> several companies (including<br />
Esso <strong>and</strong> ICI). Adeane was enthused by Steveni’s proposal <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong>fered to be on APG’s board; Steveni hastily assembled one <strong>and</strong> in 1966<br />
APG became an organisation ready to negotiate placements between<br />
artists <strong>and</strong> business. 5<br />
How <strong>the</strong> artists’ placements were organised was not simply a matter<br />
<strong>of</strong> pragmatics, but provides an insight into <strong>the</strong> ideological orientation <strong>of</strong><br />
APG. To state <strong>the</strong> procedure at its baldest: Barbara Steveni would write<br />
to a selection <strong>of</strong> host organisations outlining <strong>the</strong> goals <strong>of</strong> APG; <strong>the</strong>se<br />
organisations were invited to pay a fee to <strong>the</strong> artist, who would undertake<br />
a residency on site; in return, companies were advised not to<br />
anticipate <strong>the</strong> production <strong>of</strong> a work <strong>of</strong> art, but ra<strong>the</strong>r to think <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>mselves<br />
having <strong>the</strong> benefi t <strong>of</strong> a creative outsider in <strong>the</strong>ir midst (an<br />
‘Incidental Person’, in APG’s terminology). Steveni frames APG’s<br />
purpose as a new form <strong>of</strong> patronage bringing toge<strong>the</strong>r two disparate<br />
domains, industry <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> arts:<br />
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