Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...
Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...
Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship - autonomous ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
artificial hells<br />
fi gure is Kerzhentsev, an infl uential advocate <strong>of</strong> collective non- pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
<strong>the</strong>atre. His book The Creative Theatre (1918) was informed by his experiences<br />
<strong>of</strong> viewing folk <strong>and</strong> traditional pageants in <strong>the</strong> US <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> UK, <strong>and</strong><br />
by Romain Roll<strong>and</strong>’s The People’s Theatre (1903), an account <strong>of</strong> French<br />
<strong>the</strong>atre ‘by <strong>and</strong> for <strong>the</strong> people’, covering <strong>the</strong> period from 1789 to <strong>the</strong> turn <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> twentieth century. 60 Kerzhentsev saw <strong>the</strong>se as examples <strong>of</strong> alternatives<br />
to pr<strong>of</strong>essional <strong>the</strong>atre <strong>and</strong> an opportunity for culture to evolve from <strong>the</strong><br />
people <strong>the</strong>mselves. He encouraged pageant <strong>and</strong> mass spectacle as particularly<br />
effective forms <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>atre, since both encouraged <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> public<br />
space: ‘Why confi ne <strong>the</strong>atre to <strong>the</strong> proscenium arch when it can have <strong>the</strong><br />
freedom <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> public square?’ 61 Monumental outdoor spectacles encouraged<br />
mass participation, sublating individualism into visually overpowering<br />
displays <strong>of</strong> collective presence. These were particularly popular in St<br />
Petersburg, where a series <strong>of</strong> mass festivals took place over 1919– 20. The<br />
fi rst <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se was held for <strong>the</strong> May Day celebration in 1919, entitled The<br />
Third International (‘a staging <strong>of</strong> slogans about revolution, <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong><br />
tyrants, <strong>the</strong> burial <strong>of</strong> martyrs, <strong>and</strong> a world <strong>of</strong> peace’) <strong>and</strong> was followed by<br />
four no less ideologically driven spectacles during 1920. 62<br />
The fi rst spectacles <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1920 cycle, The Mystery <strong>of</strong> Freed Labour (on<br />
May Day) <strong>and</strong> The Blockade <strong>of</strong> Russia (on 20 June), involved thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong><br />
participants. Both were directed from within <strong>the</strong> action, <strong>and</strong> attracted audiences<br />
<strong>of</strong> over 35,000 people in <strong>the</strong> square. The Mystery <strong>of</strong> Freed Labour<br />
represented a historical schema that would become <strong>the</strong> st<strong>and</strong>ard feature <strong>of</strong><br />
revolutionary festivals, in which <strong>the</strong> Bolsheviks were heir to a long tradition<br />
<strong>of</strong> rebellion against illegitimate authority. It was also typical in<br />
presenting a paean to <strong>the</strong> October Revolution as a way <strong>of</strong> staking <strong>the</strong><br />
Bolshevik claim to leadership <strong>of</strong> international communism; in o<strong>the</strong>r words,<br />
despite its ostensibly internationalist diegesis, mass spectacle also functioned<br />
as a way to assert Russian primacy over o<strong>the</strong>r national socialist<br />
groups. The third spectacle <strong>of</strong> this series, Toward a World Commune, was<br />
held on 19 July 1920 <strong>and</strong> also adopted a historical structure (<strong>the</strong> fi rst, second<br />
<strong>and</strong> third internationals) <strong>and</strong> vast numbers <strong>of</strong> performers (4,000 participants<br />
playing to a crowd <strong>of</strong> 45,000). It featured re- enactments <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> French<br />
Revolution, <strong>the</strong> 1914 war <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> triumph <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Red Army. In <strong>the</strong> words<br />
<strong>of</strong> Fülöp- Miller, it was an attempt ‘to pass directly from <strong>the</strong> illusion <strong>of</strong><br />
dramatic action to reality: a great part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> town was used as <strong>the</strong> stage <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> events; real troops appeared, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “representation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> whole<br />
world” was so far “real” in that it actually consisted <strong>of</strong> representations <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> international communist party organisations’. 63<br />
James von Geldern usefully highlights some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> artistic problems that<br />
arose in <strong>the</strong> production <strong>of</strong> mass spectacles, all <strong>of</strong> which revolved around a<br />
confl ict between artistic <strong>and</strong> ideological requirements. The principle <strong>of</strong><br />
using amateurs meant that <strong>the</strong> acting was weak, <strong>the</strong> desire for spontaneity<br />
in fact led to chaotic action, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> bodies – after<br />
58