The BOOreaucrats Fieldwork
Background: The BOOreaucrats examine the potential for documented performance-based practice to explore problematic spaces of cultural revisionism. They do this as besuited officials of the spurious parent project, The Bureau for the Organisation of Origins. With precedents like ‘The Yes Men’ USA an...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | unknown |
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2017
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.25439/rmt.27648729.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/event/The_BOOreaucrats_Fieldwork/27648729 |
| Summary: | Background: The BOOreaucrats examine the potential for documented performance-based practice to explore problematic spaces of cultural revisionism. They do this as besuited officials of the spurious parent project, The Bureau for the Organisation of Origins. With precedents like ‘The Yes Men’ USA and ‘Gilbert and George’ UK, The BOOreaucrats spend their efforts on the relationship between remembrance and cognitive dissonance by playing clichéd roles as institutional officials busy at work. The project examines the potential of a documented performance practice to contribute to institutional critique in a quietly contemplative way. Performative gestures are fleeting and live on as photographic and multimedia documents of thought-provoking moments of cultural introspection—often complimented with obfuscatory text-based ephemera. Contribution: The Fieldwork series comprises 7 performative actions across significant locations around Australia: Wadjemup (Rottnest Island); Perth; Eureka Tower Melbourne; Ballarat and more. These actions were documented and presented as room sized vinyl decals, digital prints, a projection and on social media. Titling in obfuscatory, bureaucratic language anchors the work in critical historical revision towards recognition of Indigenous histories. As an ongoing body of work, this series contributes to contemporary artistic discourse around reconciliation in autonomous alliance with First Nations Peoples. It asks how non-Aboriginal Australia can contribute to its own understandings of colonial histories without placing demands on Aboriginal people. Significance: The BOOreaucrats Fieldwork series was shortlisted twice for the Noel Counihan Commemorative (Merri-bek) Award and has been privately collected locally and internationally. It was presented through ArtBOX commission and at Bargoonga Nganjin North Fitzroy Library; The Biennale of Australian Art in Ballarat and Conners Conners Gallery Fitzroy. |
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