Kauhau

Two weeks ago I saw the site specific performance from the second year students of Toi Whakaari. The performance was called 'Kauhau'. The site was the NZ National Library. A third year student joined the project with an installation that acted as a transition between three parts of the performance. I wrote a response to her work. I will not publish the entire document here but I would like to publish a few paragraphs. The paragraphs contain questions and concepts which have remained with me since the performance.  Concepts which I'm sure we will see artists continue to build upon. 

‘Kahau’ was a success.  The participating students knew the work was of value. From the perspective of this humble viewer it was also a success with the audience. The job of landing the audience, orienting them to the space and aligning them to the purpose of The National Library were achieved with intriguing craft skill. The personal response of individual artists was woven to optimum effect.  Long after the thrill of the skilled performance faded one truth remained and continues to resonate.  ‘The culture of information is having a dramatic impact on the forming voice of contemporary artists.’  

How then will artists respond to this cultural paradigm?  What will artists have to say of themselves, the world and their role within it? How will they be heard? How will they be seen? How will easy access information over multiple platforms be a vehicle for art, conscious social growth, criticism and debate rather than a vehicle for fear and conformity? 

The design and installation co existed with the second year performance. The work added value, connection and resonance. Through the control of media, information and by staging the audience as active viewer to the work our responsibility and voice within the 'information age' came to the forefront of the performance. The work put me at unease. I question how any young voice can survive when so much exposure to ridicule and shame exists within contemporary media. Artists must now experience failure or success with maximum exposure.  The voices I heard from the actors and designers throughout Kauhau became all the more precious as result of this work.  Theirs was a voice of the past.  A voice that is losing its place in contemporary society. There is a need for this voice to adapt if it is to exist in the new cultural paradigm. What ‘adapting’ will look like is unknown to me. It is an unsettling and frightening thought to be without the voices that we value so greatly. It is encouraging though that artists such as those in Kauha are exploring a new voice through the culture that is very much alive now.