Still 4’33” A social Practice Event

Still 4’33” – A Social Practice Event by Michael Palmer

“Social Practice is art that is socially engaged, where the social interaction is at some point the art”: the view of American art promoter and former museum director Tom Finkelpearl from his book What We Made (2013:44). Finkelpearl moved the conversation forward from Nicolas Bourriaud’s themes of Relational Aesthetics (1998) more in line with Claire Bishop’s article “The Social Turn: Collaboration and Its Discontents” published in Art Forum in 2006. Bishop notes “…that there is a range of names for the activist wing of the less-authored practice, including socially engaged art” (Bishop, 2006). Bishop’s primary focus was on the term ‘social’, as in ‘social encounter’ across classes where the activity was centred less on specific culturally-biased sites and more on an ‘urban’ street level: real people in real places. These urban street-based events are nothing new, works such as Gillian Wearing’s London Life series of the 1990s or works by Santiago Sierra and Roman Ondak in the early years of the 21st century have all taken the idea of social interaction somewhere new and exciting. It is no longer just a ‘happening’ but an event.
Philosopher Slavjo Zizek in his book Philosophy in Transit questions the composition of an event: “At first approach, an event is thus the effect that seems to exceed its causes – and the space of an event is that which opens up by the gap that separates an effect from its causes” (Zizek, 2014:3). An event is not graded by any scientific formula or its historical significance but is a matter of perspective as perceived by its individual audience. “A tsunami killed 200,000 people in Indonesia! A paparazzo snapped Britney Spears’ vagina!” (Zizek, 2014:1) these two sensational headlines were beamed around the world and seen by hundreds of millions of people, but the majority of those outside of Indonesia remember the split-second snap shot of Spears’ lack of modesty. An event therefore could be described as something shocking, something that disrupts the motion of normal events, is unexpected, instant or fleeting.
The curatorial group for the live projects working title, ‘Interactive Spatial Arrangement’ consisted of Sonja Purwal, Jennifer Murphy, Jennie Murton, Leonardo Pitanga, Alison Alexander, Oscar Bray and myself. During the initial meeting it was decided we did not want to do an overtly political protest or agitate on a large scale but to concentrate on subtler forms of disruption. After a period of inactivity, the group were finding it difficult locating an artist to collaborate with or to agree to what guise the performance should take. Fortunately I discovered through my own research that Middlesex University runs an Art and Social Practice Master’s Degree at their Hendon campus, course leader Lorraine Leeson. After writing to Lorraine with a preliminary proposal to circulate to her students we were given details of Art and Social Practice MA student Wendy Charlton. The job of contacting Wendy was given to Jennie Murton whilst I continued looking for an alternative artist. During a search through Axis web I came across Ellen Bell, an extremely active and prolific artist based in Wales who had branched out into social practice as well as continuing with her word and language based practice. On initially speaking to Ellen she was excited about the challenge and keen to collaborate on our project. On receipt of our proposal Ellen and I discussed assorted options and opinions which I relayed to the curatorial group through social media and direct conversation. This resulted in an agreement to perform a silent disruption in a busy frenetic environment and to record the absence of intended sound, the inspiration and guide for this would be the work of composer and music theorist John Cage.
American composer John Cage (1912-1992), was at the forefront of Avant-garde experimental music following WWII. He broke with tradition exploring alternate uses of musical instruments, electroacoustic and unpredictable musical arrangements. In 1952 Cage composed 4’33” to be performed either by an ensemble or solo artist and was written for any instrument. The work was performed in front of a live theatre audience and recorded with full sound, not intended to record the musicians but the ambient sounds within the theatre. It is not a silent musical performance as often presumed, Cage’s written instruction to the musicians was “Tacet” (Latin: silent). For the first performance pianist David Tudor dressed in full evening attire approached the piano (fig.1.) sat and when ready made a very pronounced gesture of starting a stop watch and for exactly 4’33” sat back and remained motionless. At the end of the specified time the musician stops the clock, again in a pronounced way, stands up, takes a bow. before leaving the stage. Cage reasoned that “musicians who present the work do nothing aside from being present for the duration specified by the title” (Kostelanetz, 2003:69-70).

fig.1. John Cage 4’33” Defies Silence (1952)
Ellen Bell having thought about our project over the course of a few days indicated to us she would like the group to perform a silent event in the manner of 4’33” but with a less formal, staged approach as per the original John Cage piece. Ellen instructed the performance should be completely spontaneous, non-theatrical and site specific. The location and curation would be our decision. The new permanent title for the event suggested by Ellen was agreed, Still 4’33. This title pays direct homage to the original John Cage work and encapsulates the narrative and intention of the piece and therefore could have been entitled Still 4’33” (after John Cage). The term, ‘still’ indicates our time, separated from the original work by more than six decades but equally relevant in contemporary society. Additionally, ‘still’ describes the act of being inanimate – the motionless, unmoving stillness of the performers juxtaposed against the deafening, frantic chaos of the world – thus defining the term as the adjective, noun and adverb. Now that Ellen had agreed to collaborate, and the group were happy to proceed with her instruction, we returned to Wendy Charlton who had yet to come back to us with an acceptable proposal, to thank her and to advise her we would not need to take her participation any further as the brief requested that only one artist be permitted.
The curatorial team had various discussions and meetings regarding the location, curation and detail of the event with some disagreement, but finally decisions were made and a date for the performance was set for Wednesday 11th April 2018. The group decided that as there were seven of us and to avoid any choreography we would initially perform solo whilst another group member would take still photographs with a third making a film. The film of course would also capture the sound of the environment. The solo performer would be captured at first in motion then at a specific moment would freeze for the permitted time, upon completion of the task they would reanimate and continue on their way. In order to gain maximum exposure we decided that lunch time in Oxford Circus, London would be perfect for the performance of Still 4’33”. The primary reason for this location was that Oxford Circus not only has various tube station entrances to supply us with a constant flow of people, but it is the crossroads adjoining Oxford Street and Regent Street, possibly two of the most congested yet celebrated roads in the capital. The idea of performing a silent motionless activity in such a thriving commercialised area we found very engaging. On arrival and after a brief discussion the performance started with me walking up to the railings surrounding one of the tube station entrances on Oxford Street and whilst holding onto the top railing with my hands bowing my head and stretching my left leg towards the railings taking up quite a considerable section of the path. This was filmed by Leo with stills taken by Sonja. During the performance various people were forced to step sideways to avoid me with a few looking back to see what was happening. After four minutes and thirty-three seconds I carried on walking ending my solo act. Whilst this was going on Jennifer, Oscar and Alison were standing a few metres away standing in a triangle staring down at the floor as if looking closely at an object, although not choreographed they were working together. This was filmed by Jennie and Sonja. (fig.2.)

fig.2. Still 4’33” (2018)
Leo decided he would block the footpath on Regent Street by kneeling in the middle of the path to tie his shoe lace, this was probably the most successful performance due to the location by the tube exit and it was a particularly busy few minutes. Several people had to stop and wait before they could pass including a lady with a push chair. This performance was filmed by myself. (fig.3). Alison performed posting a letter for four minutes and thirty-three seconds next to a bus stop which again involved various people having to step around her diverting their travel, this was filmed by Oscar and Jennie. Jennifer subverted the flow

fig.3. Still 4’33” (2018)
of pedestrians by walking up to a pedestrian crossing and instantly stood still after she pressed the walk button. After her 4’33” she turned and walked back the way she came, therefore not crossing the road as most of the onlookers expected. This act was filmed by myself and Jennie. Finally, Sonja performed her piece at a bus stop filmed by Jennie, unfortunately within her allotted time the bus stop was not particularly busy and possibly did not have her intended effect.
On reflection, I feel the overall project was a remarkable success with the group working together and with the guidance of our artist we produced some fantastic material which I hope will influence future work. The entire group participated, and every person was successful in remaining motionless and silent for the specified time. Once all the performances were completed it was agreed we would all upload our films and images to one social media site from where we could compile and organise the footage for the public presentation and to forward to our artist. Ellen has expressed interest in using the footage or its contents on her social media pages and web site, of course sharing credit with the curatorial group.
One of the most interesting and notable facts observed from all the performances was that the public in general did not notice anything specifically strange or odd about any of the actual activities employed by the group. Stretching, tying shoe laces, looking at the floor, pressing the walk button or posting a letter, these are every day activities and would not normally be noticed at all. The defining factor and what caused the performances to become an event was the motionless state amalgamated with the length of time. The time span generated an air of confusion amongst the onlookers, they did not understand the concept of being still in that environment or space, the universal, why? Bringing us back full circle to Zizek, “…At first approach an event is thus the effect that seems to exceed its causes – and the space of an event is that which opens up by the gap that separates an effect from its causes” (Zizek, 2014:3). In this context as with John Cage’s original orchestral piece the defining factor again was time. There is a perceived acceptability of time allowed for a musician to be silent before they start to play, waiting for the conductor to ready the rest of the assembled musicians, to wait for the audience to settle. In Still 4’33” what is the acceptable length of time for tying one’s shoe lace or posting a letter? When this is observed by an onlooker their own expectations are transferred to us, projected externally so when this accepted time has elapsed they become suspicious and even agitated. As Zizek put it “Is an event a change in the way reality appears to us or a shattering transformation of reality itself?” (Zizek, 2014:5).