Misplaced Women? at the University of Aberdeen May Festival, May 30, 2015. Contribution by Amy Bryzgel

On May 30, 2015, Amy Bryzgel (Lecturer in History of Art, University of Aberdeen), Adrienne Janus (Lecturer in English, UoA), and Suk-Jun Kim (Lecturer in Music, UoA) organized “The Art of Performance” at the University of Aberdeen May Festival, in the Linklater Rooms, King’s College, University of Aberdeen. The aim of the annual Festival is to give the general public the opportunity to get to know the research that the academics at the university are working on, and for the researchers to have the chance to engage with and share their work with the wider community. In the “Art of Performance,” Amy, Adrienne and Jun wanted to create an event that would explore notions of performance, performativity, and participation, by creating events that encouraged the attendees to participate, and also by demonstrating performance and giving the audience a chance to ask questions and discuss what they experienced.

Adrienne Janus performs Misplaced Women? Photo by MZ

There were three performances presented at The Art of Performance. The first was Tanja Ostojic’s delegated performance Misplaced Women?, which was performed by Amy Bryzgel, Marta Barche and Lisa Collinson, all of whom had attended Ostojic’s workshop at the University of Aberdeen on April 1, 2015, and they were also joined by Adrienne Janus. During the course of the performance another attendee of the workshop, whom the organizers didn’t know would be attending, also joined in and unpacked her bag. Next, Suk-Jun Kim and three of his students, Bea Dawkins, Mark James Dunmore and Simon Hellewell did a live-coding performance (Untitled, 2015), where they used the following four phrases as material which they then manipulated in their piece: “Where did you come from? What did you do today? What will you do today? How did you get here?” Finally, after a group discussion on the role of performance art and participatory art in Aberdeen, the audience experienced a Situationist International-inspired dérive, led by Adrienne and Marta, on the Elphinstone Lawn of the University of Aberdeen campus.

Amy Bryzgel performs Misplaced Women? Photo by MZ

Adrienne Janus performs Misplaced Women? Photo by MZ

Movement was the key concept that linked all three performance: movement, migration, how we move through space, how we occupy space, how we make space our own. Misplaced Women? raises questions not only about movement and migration, but also about where one’s private space ends and public space begins. The performance of the piece took place suddenly, unannounced, while the audience members were circulating the room, answering questions posed to them on posterboards, writing on post-it notes, eating candy (after Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s candy installations), so although it did not interrupted the flow of activity, it did form a disruption and attract the attention of those in the room. Perhaps at first the audience members may have thought that we were looking for something in our bags, but as each woman joined the activity, it became clear that something else was going on.

Misplaced Women? at the University of Aberdeen May Festival Photo by MZ

I, personally, became aware of the line between public and private that I had crossed when I began to empty out my wallet, and placed my identity cards and bank cards on the floor in front of me – all cards that contain important numbers that one is meant to keep secret, and the theft of which could cause significant problems for the owner of those cards. In the back of my mind I reassured myself that none of the people in the room would misuse that information, but whether or not this was true was not important. Rather, the fact that I experienced the feeling of exposing myself in the public space made the performance a poignant experience for me.

After the live-coding performance we all engaged in a discussion about the nature and role of performance art. One attendee said that she had actually wanted to join in the Misplaced Women? performance, but wasn’t sure if she could or should, and didn’t know if she had “permission.” In many ways, Misplaced Women? itself is about permission, and the role that permission plays in one’s ability to cross borders – who has permission to go where, and why.

Marta Barche performs Misplaced Women? Photo by MZ

Next, Marta Barche gave a sensitive and intelligent presentation about what Misplaced Women? means to her, especially in connection with her own personal migration story. And The Art of Performance ended with audience members following Adrienne and Marta outside into the world to experience it anew, through dérive.

About 35 people attended the Art of Performance, and all were thoroughly engaged and enthusiastic about witnessing and discussing performance, and even trying a bit of it themselves. Although Misplaced Women? was performed in the context of these other events, and not necessarily in a migration-sensitive space (although the University itself represents migration, with its diversity of faculty and students), I believe that viewing Misplaced Women? and hearing Marta’s discussion of it inspired others to think about their own migration stories, and the boundaries that they come across in their everyday lives, when they travel, and when they encounter individuals from other lands.

To view the live-tweets of the event, see #MayFestPerform on Twitter

The Art of Performance; Lisa Collinson performs Misplaced Women? in the foreground Photo by MZ

The Art of Performance, Linklater Rooms, University of Aberdeen Live-coding performers in the foreground Photo by MZ

Advertisement

Marta´s Story

Misplaced Women? banner by Marta Nitecka Barche

 

I took part in Tanja Ostojic´s “Misplaced Women?” workshop in April 2015 at the University of Aberdeen. 
I was also honoured to take part in ‘ The Art of Performance’ event as part of May Festival 2015  at the University of Aberdeen where Dr Amy Bryzgel, Dr Adrienne Janus, Dr Lisa Collinson, and I performed Misplaced Women?. I prepared a short talk for this event about the performance and what it means to me:

To me, Misplaced Women? is a very peculiar performance. It has many meanings linked to my academic interests and to my individual experience. It recalls the everyday reality of migrants and refugees, of people who more or less willingly move between countries and cities. Their personal stories happen every day on the streets, shops, bus stations, and airports. That is why Misplaced Women? takes place in a public place without any particular settings. The idea is that anyone can enact the performance in ordinary settings among strangers passing by; just like anyone can become a migrant who needs to pack a part of their life into a suitcase and move to an unknown place. Misplaced Women? does not ask about nationality or political status. It performs and reaffirms the right of individual people to exist and to occupy space as human beings, whatever their identity. It calls attention to their presence, to their present existence; an existence often unrecognised or denied by political and national modes of identification (especially in the case of undocumented immigrants). Misplaced Women? lets individuals be present without asking about their place of belonging. This makes it a very personal performance to me. I have been moving between cities and states for most of my life. As a child, I moved with my parents within Poland. There was time when I changed my schools twice in one year. When I was a teenager, I spoke to my friend who said that she would like to move to another country, but it is so difficult to do. I said to her “you just need to go if you want to”. It was then I realised that I did not see any issue with changing place. To me it was as simple as going there. When I was older, I left Poland and moved to the USA; I did not feel I belonged to Poland. In my life I moved a few times more from one state to another. I have been in Aberdeen for over 4 years. I am lucky enough to be a student at the University of Aberdeen. I have also become a mother, and my son occupies his own space here. I like my life here and I want to stay here. I realised that “I want to stay” is important; I have chosen to stay in Aberdeen; but I also know that I do not have to stay here. I do not belong to Warsaw or Poland; I am not sure if I belong to Aberdeen, or Scotland, or to any other place. I do not feel I belong to any state and I do not like to be classified by nationality. I am a woman, a wife, a mother, a student, I am a human being, I am present, I occupy space, I am a misplaced woman.

I  myself was subject to border control procedures in the USA. It was an experience of a particular kind of hell. I spent over 3 weeks in a regular jail. They called it “migration prison” but the truth is that I was there with criminals (I have never had a criminal past or committed any crime). They told me that my case was administrative, not criminal; but at the same time, I was handcuffed and ankle- cuffed. It took me forever to deal with this trauma; I am still dealing with it and I am not sure if I will ever overcome this experience completely.

By Marta Nitecka Barche