In a previous post, I had asked the question;
Can you create a meaningful encounter with a complete stranger?
To me it seemed that this question could best be explored in only one context and that was the context surrounding one to one performance. To gain insight I researched into the performance artist Adrian Howells. I took particular interest in Adrian Howells, because I felt this work correlated with the my ideas about the nature of our performance and that of the question I wanted to experiment with, as his artistic policy describes his work as, “to create work that promotes intimacy and genuine exchange with an audience, often in a one-to-one, autobiographical or confessional context, in a range of non-traditional performance spaces.” (2012). He discusses his work and the questions behind them in further detail in the following interview;
I was stuck with how meaningful Howells’ performances appeared to be for the participant. I began to think of reasons why this could be, we live in a world where people do things constantly with an agenda and I believe that Adrian’s performances affect people so deeply because it can be argued there is no agenda. He is not doing this for any gain, he is simply giving his time to someone and it is purely for their benefit.
I love this idea of simply giving someone my time, without any agenda but just purely for them. I’m interested in exploring not only how it will affect the people who take part of in the performance but also how it will affect me. It would be interesting to see that if after developing and performing a piece of work surrounding these ideas, would I change the way I interact with people on a daily basis?
Work Cited
British Arts Council (2012) Adrian Howells Online: http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-performanceinprofile-2010-adrian-howells.htm (accessed: 21st October 2012)