Puff of smoke: curating live art / performance in the gallery

Performance work is increasingly in dialogue with contemporary visual art; artists frequently utilise live aspects alongside sculpture, moving image and installation as part of a hybrid fine art practice. With Tate Modern's 2012 commissioning of Tino Sehgal's These Associations for the Unilever Series, and the programming of The Tanks as a significant venue, it is clear that live art/performance is now an art form of significance for major galleries; add to that the short listing of Spartacus Chetwynd for the Turner Prize and the plethora of live work in the last Venice Biennale, it seems that the time of performance has surely arrived.

Puff of smoke reflects upon the apparent ascendancy of live art/performance within the gallery context and the shift this has caused in practices of making and curating. Whereas the live art scene of previous years often found a home in designated performance spaces and venues, what consequences and effects does the coming into a gallery raise for contemporary artists, curators, producers, for galleries and their audiences currently? In this one-day workshop we will consider the dynamics of exhibiting live and static works together, question the assigning of value to different practices, as well as issues of funding and support. That performance practices have long enabled the testing of states of awkwardness, and that their duration has allowed audiences to engage in unfolding encounters with the not yet known, has a particular conceptual resonance in contemporary visual art and its theorisation/research. This event will explore the potential and the problematics of making and curating live works in and for galleries.

Joanne Lee opened the event by presenting a case study of Lisa Watts' touring research project Skittish (2013 - 2014) The research and dialogue for this case study prompted a series of provocations to initiate the day's discussions, with contributions from artist/performers: Jordan McKenzie; Victoria Gray and Sarah Spanton. Intended to be a richly conversational session, participants will be encouraged to share and discuss their own experience of and questions about curating live works in a gallery context.