A cold winter’s morning on the 28th of January is when I took my first step into the Usher Gallery and Collection, a museum/gallery located less than three minutes from the Lincoln high street. My first impression of the space was promising, as I knew there would be plenty of history for me to draw upon to create a performance. A museum is a fascinating space to perform in. An institution which teaches through its displays, but who decides what it can and can’t teach? Charles Garoian compares museums to Memory Theatre, whose “principle function was to present empirical knowledge” (Garoian, 2001, 235), and now the “didactic, monologic performance of its discourse of knowledge [has been] inherited by the
modern museum” (ibid).UsherGallery

(Image credit: http://www.thecollectionmuseum.com)

Before going I had already researched a little into the history of the museum and gallery, primarily James Usher’s use of the famous Lincoln imp in many pieces of jewellery to gather his wealth. At first I thought this history would be the basis of my performance, but as I began to explore the gallery and museum old thoughts on the nationalist nature of museums began to surface, and I noticed the lack of diversity of the artists on display. During a quick investigation of the Usher gallery I found that there were 84 named artists, only 14 of those were women, and every single one of them was white, except F. E. Martinez. This lack of diversity is now instead what I believe will be the main influence on my performance, as it is an issue incredibly prevalent within many industries, especially the arts and theatre.

5353

(Image credit: http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=5353)

One of the few representations of a non-white face at the Usher gallery, a bronze bust of Paul Robeson created by Jacob Epstein.

More updates will be coming in on the process of my performance, as well as thoughts on readings about site specific performance, and other tasks given to help develop an understanding. So keep an eye out for those in the upcoming weeks.

Works Cited.

Garoian, C. (2001) Performing the Museum. Studies in Art Education, 42 (3): pp. 234-248.