The Women's Art Activation System in the ARTery (2020)

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The Women’s Art Activation

Photo description: a screenshot of an Agony performance taken by Sarah Dixon (WAAS) on an Apple Mac. Two women face the camera. One wears a red hat, glasses and a white shirt. The other wears two pairs of glasses and holds a card on which is printed seven cups. The text reads ‘Agony 6: @bobbingtonrobct’. Photo credit: The WAAS.

Activation, permission, validation and agony: performance art and the Social ARTery…

As 2020 Social ARTery Pioneers the Women’s Art Activation System presented a series of 4 works for the members of the ARTery and the wider public to participate in and enjoy. We used Evenbrite, Facebook, Instagram and the ARTery itself to promote the events.

Permission

In Permission we issued slips to 5 participants. These included permission to WEAR PYJAMAS ALL DAY NOT ACHIEVE ANYTHING SPEND TIME IN THE STUDIO

Activation

In this session no one turned up. Despite having had some bookings, our Activation did not activate anyone. We made use of the time and made Agony Art. So we self-Activated.

Validation

We successfully validated Preston Street Union’s project ‘Instructions To Live By’. This is the 17th Validation at the Bureau which is performing a limited edition of 500 Validations in our lifetime. The Validation was conducted over Zoom in the presence of ARTery audience members.

Agony Arts

We went live on Facebook to process 3 Agonies sent in to us by the Public. These included - ‘The house is a mess - Chuntering husband - we are both blaming each other’ ‘ Lockdown or not, I can never seem to get an early night...there is never enough time to get it all done’

“It became the beginning of something wonderful; I really ran with the whole concept of Permission from them, and haven’t looked back since. The simple act of being encouraged without question, and having the Official Process as part of it, is just magic. And I really hope more women get to experience it as I did.”

— Participant

Being part of the ARTery was an exciting way to work with our audiences. Our work is aimed at fellow artists and females, and we formed some deeper connections with some other ARTery members. It also gave us a chance to bring our practice online in a way that we wouldn’t have been able to do without the Pioneer commission. Indeed the depth of the conversations and connections were likely greater than we have experienced at Live events.

There is an intimacy to the digital sessions we had and the fact we can stay connected in the ARTery also creates a sense of having a longer term relationship than at live events where we may have many people seeing us and yet we will not stay connected.

To watch Agony, visit: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7649644

A Visit by the Officials from the Bureau for the Validation of Art can also be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/466136606

More information: https://weareaxis.org/groups/the-womens-art-activation-system/

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The Women's Art Activation System

The Women’s Art Activation System (WAAS) is an artist collective that aims to activate women’s art. Principal artists Sharon Bennett and Sarah Dixon collaborate to make live art, performance and socially engaged works.

The WAAS makes artworks that question established structures that inhibit and marginalise people, particularly female-identified people and those experiencing pregnancy, childbirth and mothering. Working with humour to address serious issues The WAAS makes rituals and processes that enquire into, and shift, widely-established social power dynamics.

Sharon and Sarah are representatives for Pregnancy and Mothering on the Disconnected Bodies Arts Advisory Board and most recently worked with Axisweb, Social Art Network and Manchester Metropolitan University on a commission called Social Art for Equity Diversity and Inclusion (SAFEDI) funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council. Other works include interactive performance A Visit by the Bureau for the Validation of Art performed at the Grace Exhibition Space in New York via Zoom in 2020, Offbeat Performance Art Festival 2021, Social Works?:LIVE in Manchester, and Art Licks London and The Baby Makers, a series of facilitated workshops for women in pregnancy and post-birth currently funded by a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund.

http://thewaas.org