A tale of two cultures - Page 2
From Griffith REVIEW Edition 23: Essentially Creative
© Copyright Griffith University & the author.
Written by Elizabeth Ann Macgregor
CRAIG WALSH WAS SELECTED FOR HIS ABILITY TO MAKE ENGAGING video works on a large scale. Initially it was thought that he might propose something for the stadium redevelopment. However, he came up with three different projects, and the club is keen to undertake each of them. Max Cowan was particularly interested in Craig's ideas as a new way of marketing the club, focusing on the fans and the players. Walsh proposed capturing the essence of the emotions of the game by photographing the players and the fans immediately after losing a game. Getting the involvement of the players was no mean feat – the last thing they wanted was to have to pose for the camera at this moment of vulnerability. They all rose to the occasion, as did the fans aged from eight to seventy-four; Craig selected seventeen of the resulting images to produce as large-scale prints intended for the club's new premises. At the various games, the project was announced over the loudspeakers.
As Craig recalled: ‘Ultimately this project has provided portraits of both the players and fans; not only do they reflect an emotional response to the loss, but most dominantly they present the complexities of being a subject for a photographic portrait under these difficult emotive conditions. Heads Up as a title reflects this condition and the response taken by the majority of the sitters. "Keep your head up!" is a term often used in response to loss or disappointment and these portraits capture this attitude. Pride in oneself and the team is reflected in their faces through an attempt to disguise the disappointment of the loss.'
As part of Panthers' agenda was to challenge the image of the club – and indeed of rugby league – it became clear that exhibiting Craig's project at the MCA was important, something which had not been planned from the outset. A partnership between contemporary art and rugby league was certainly going to challenge stereotypes on both sides, and Panthers wanted the project to have wider visibility in Sydney. The MCA was able to accommodate it for an eight week showing, coinciding with the National Rugby League finals and the beginning of the Rugby League World Cup 2008. The NRL was persuaded to sponsor the exhibition and present adverts for it on video screens at all the finals matches, although sadly Panthers did not make the finals. Press coverage was good and numbers exceeded expectations.
FRENCH ARTIST SYLVIE BLOCHER TOOK HER PROJECT IN A DIRECTION that was totally unexpected. Blocher is a video artist and has made an impressive body of work in collaboration with different groups of people. She was invited to meet with the Panthers because of the work she made with American football players, asking them about their emotions. This work had been included in the MCA's Sporting Life exhibition in 2000.
However, Sylvie did what all good artists do: she came to the residency with a totally open mind and became fascinated by the history of the club, with its strong roots in the community and the challenges it faces to make money. She spent her first week in Penrith talking to people who are involved with Panthers at all levels, from poker machine players to club executives, as well as exploring the suburban landscape of Western Sydney. This resulted in her writing a ‘warts and all' analysis of the issues facing the club, which was presented to the board. Her paper was entitled ‘The Panthers of the Future, the Future of the Panthers'. As often happens, artists can both ask and then rearticulate the difficult questions. Sylvie was particularly concerned about the club's interaction with the community beyond the football fans, and its contribution to Penrith generally. Panthers' CEO Glenn Matthews agreed to meet Sylvie while in Paris on business, and was deeply impressed with her perceptive analysis and her spirited attitude.
As a way of shifting the thinking about the club and its relationship to Penrith, Blocher focused on the club's proposal to develop eighty hectares of land, including the club and the land between it and the river. She sees this as a golden opportunity for both the club and the city of Penrith to do something truly remarkable. After a second visit, she prepared an extraordinary video: a fable about the future of the city, referencing key figures from Penrith and the club and incorporating the views and aspirations of members of the community that she interviewed for a project called What is Missing? She then proposed a solution: to create a world-class development, a model environment that would shift Penrith from subservient suburb status to being a centre in its own right, a centre in which its community can and should feel proud to live. It is a lofty ambition, but Blocher's proposal has received the enthusiastic support of both the council and the club and has provided a catalyst for a closer working relationship between them. Blocher speaks with some authority about the ‘problem' of the suburbs, as she lives in Saint Denis, a suburb of Paris best known for the widely reported rioting of its disenfranchised youth. Working with her partner François Daune in the collective Campement Urbain, she has been involved in a number of projects which directly tackle these issues through a new model of urban intervention.
It is too early to say whether this visionary ambition can be realised. She is poised to undertake the next stage of the feasibility study. Nonetheless, both the Blocher and Walsh projects have very clearly shown what artists can do to address issues in new and innovative ways. C3 West has the potential to demonstrate a way of artists working with businesses that can provide unforeseen and highly beneficial solutions to their needs, which go far beyond writing a sponsorship cheque. At a launch for C3 West in early 2008, Max Cowan described the relationship from the corporate point of view: ‘Panthers is not buying or commissioning any works of art. We're not buying or commissioning any art installations. We're a company like any other company. We're a business that faces challenges, issues, problems, opportunities: every day of the week. At any one time we have a number of projects going on. They range in size and scope. All these issues that we need to face need to be resourced, and they have to produce outcomes. When the guys from C3 West came along and said: "What if you used an artist to design and deliver the outcomes that you require from the issues that you face in the everyday business world? Wouldn't that be interesting?" We thought it would be interesting. That's the nature of this relationship.'
It is a relationship, Cowan attests, that could lead to rewards that are ‘unimaginably great': ‘By being part of this collaboration, the C3West project, we're taking a step outside. We're looking at the world anew. We're reinventing ourselves.' C3 West presents challenges for all concerned. As a process rather than a product, there is a risk in this kind of work: there is no way to predict what is going to happen. It is essential that artists are able to bring their creative vision to bear on the issues without too many constraints. Trust between the partners is essential, as is the clear elucidation of objectives and roles.
Conventional art critics will find this kind of work difficult to comprehend. Part of the new role for the MCA is to be an advocate for ground-breaking work. The MCA is committed to extending and exploring new ways of thinking about contemporary art's engagement with business and the community. By 2020, the kind of changes that we've seen at Panthers could be the foundation of a new national attitude which recognises the important role that artists can play. At both the community and corporate levels, this new perspective is an investment towards a creative Australia. ♦