For our site-specific piece we are using the Usher gallery to perform in , the gallery has been open since 1927 (The Collection, 2015). In most site-specific pieces the location and the performance intertwine. The performance often uses the space’s history or purpose to influence the piece in some way, though this is not always the case. ‘Performers and audience experience a sense of ‘touching’ the building, and are aware of how the space…can be…reflected within the performance’ (Govan et al, 2007, 111). The performance may hold ‘traces of [the space’s]…purpose and haunted by the ghosts of those who have used them’ (Govan et al, 2007, 139). This can hold make the audience change their perspective they had for that certain space. Additionally by performing in a non-traditional theatrical performance space the audience may be forced to lose any preconceived ideas they hold.

By performing in the Usher gallery we have been looking at the purpose of the gallery and the art which is shown. In particular my group has decided to focus on a statue of Venus and Cupid by John Gibson. Although this statue has been our stimulus we are developing how we make use it to engage an audience.

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Work Cited

Govan, E., Nicholson, H. and Normington, K. (2007) Making a Performance, Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices. London: Routledge.  

The Collection (2015) Art at The Collection. [online] Available from: http://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/?/visiting-us/art-at-the-collection [Accessed 23 March 2015].

Image from: http://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/