Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane wrote of their interest in “misbehaviour” and “naughtiness” in relation to their public art project The Greasy Pole (2008)XY[. The pair worked with the local arts organisation Grizedale ArtsXY\ to reinstate an historic greasy pole event as a permanent piece of public art and for the annual Egremont Crab Fair. The climbing of the greasy pole had been removed from the fair in 2003 due to the difficulty in acquiring public liability insurance for the event.
The re-instatement therefore became a tangible example of a local community triumph over control of their own cultural traditions. The return of the pole as a permanent “sculpture” became a symbol of resistance to the bureaucratisation of local events with all the associated risk assessments and insurance company compliance. The Greasy Pole is an example where “misbehaviour” is shared by the artists with the community, not just an example of the artists being “naughty”. This kind of misbehaviour is about resisting the over-regulation of everyday life, and small acts of resistance might indicate pockets of hope for local empowerment. Sophie Hope also discusses misbehaviour as a strategy in her workshops. As one participant commented: “if the misbehaviour is something that can be shared amongst the participants, then that’s fine” (Hope, 2011, p. 106).
Perhaps the best-known early example in Aotearoa where the public or a community is encouraged or motivated to misbehave with and in public space is Barry Thomas’ Vacant lot of Cabbages (1978). Based on an already contested site in the Wellington CBD this “eyesore” of a site and its un-development had already been the site of media attention and activism by the Values PartyXY] who planted trees and suggested building a public park and inner city “sanctuary” (Davidson, 2011, p.37). Thomas, who shared an environmental politics with the Values Party, anonymously planted a patch
XY[ For instance “Jeremy Deller & Alan Kane on the greasy pole” (2008).
XY\ Grizedale Arts has been running under different models for over 35 years in the Lakes
District of the UK. It now operates as a “research and development agency for contemporary artists” where “the use value of art is always encouraged, with resident artists, architects, designers, crafts people and critics often working directly with the location and its inhabitants” (“Grizedale Arts,” n.d.).
XY] The Values Party, formed in 1973, are purported to be the first national green party in the world.
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of cabbages that spelt the word cabbage, which re-captured media attention. He then came forward publicly and stated that it was up to the public what to do with the cabbages (and site). The following months saw a flurry of additions from members of the public, such as “a line of IBM magnetic tape machines ‘plugged’ into the cabbage patch; a scarecrow; a picket gate and an open-air living room consisting of armchairs, a sofa, a television and a crate of ‘empties.’" (ibid,p.38)
Davidson uses the term “event-specific” to characterise this type of art practice as a form of “experience” and to anchor it in an art historical narrative. Mick Wilson describes “the event” as “the contingent, coming-into-being of a temporary public, clustered around the event of the artwork” (Wilson, 2009, p. 24). The event and “its duration, transience, contingent availability to a public” (ibid) can become the content of the work, escaping some of the critiques that are directed at CA, with its “identity- based” notions of the public. The event in this sense escapes the problems of “fixed bounded identities” that a deficit model of community development can enforce. Wilson does warn that “the event”, with its “modesty in the ambitions of art and publicness” (Wilson, 2009, p.26), may lose the possibility of mobilisation. Indeed the “event”, with its gentle-sounding harmless spontaneous emergence and dissipation of publics sounds like it has lost its politics. Thus, it seems particularly appropriate for
(Fig. 22) Vacant lot of cabbages. 1978. Barry Thomas. Wellington. Thomas and collaborators cut the perimeter wire fence and dump soil. Photograph Justin Keen.Courtesy Barry Thomas
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the roaming “parachute artists”, rather than challenging the notion of the coloniser vs. the colonised.
Giovanni Tiso uses the term “misdirection” (“Bat, Bean, Beam,” n.d.) as opposed to misbehaviour to apply to Thomas’ media strategy for Vacant lot of Cabbages. Thomas described his cabbage patch at the time in the press as a “harmless, non-radical” act, and Tiso suggests this was precisely what seemed to encourage other citizens to improvise random acts of sculpture and assemblage at the site. Tiso’s terminology is more useful for unpacking the idea of caring deception, as he is locating the way that a social ethics in action may motivate people to act. In a pop psychological sense, Thomas used a reverse psychology, suggesting a part-truth. There is a genuine desire from Thomas for local participatory democracy, yet he performs a humorous and wry act that is neither didactic nor ambiguous.
Equally important must be the aesthetics of the “act”. Rather than Thomas’ statement in the press, I suggest it is the sensual act itself that asks “who is the cabbageXY^ in this situation?”; the property developer, the City council or the citizens themselves? This suggests that the ethics of the cabbage planting action can be judged in relation to the ethics of the property developer, the local City Council and the publics inaction128. Thomas literally and metaphorically plants a seed for guerrilla gardening,
showing by doing and issuing a challenge to the public over the fate of the cabbages. Rather than Thomas’ clever media deception for Vacant Lot of Cabbages, I began the WWF with a challenge over water control that invited intervention from the council and water authorities. Using the terms of deception, Thomas’ tactic can be defined as the method with which he artfully disguised the politics. Rather than a cultural democracy notion of emancipating the “people” to action, the tactic for the WWF was to direct the disguise towards the local governing institutions.
The WWF planning began to be determined by the ideology of the local authorities. The local meetings were often populated by a majority of the key players who
XY^ “Cabbage” is a colloquial term for dumb, unmotivated or inactive.
XY_Thomas has replied “the lonely little cabbage seedlings in an overwhelming sea of concrete
meant very, very simply how constrained and controlled and weak nature had become. I deliberately chose to only leave my ego with the initial act... the fate of the cabbages and the site was not only going to be the mirror/ work of art - of the culture - as evidenced by the cabbages, the Values party native trees - all the myriad of household and art interventions... In other words not being central, not trying to 'own' and be seen to own the work allowed space for others to contribute. (personal corespondence with the artist Jan 2017)
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represented local organisations and authorities. Even the first funding from the Creative Communities scheme came with a concern that the festival should be promoted in the “right way” so as not to promote water wastage. However, the local councillors and development group members largely stayed at arms length, probably due to its gently subversive character that did not fit with the branding plans of “Breathe Easy Wainuiomata”. The Facebook page became more and more popular, yet this was also controlled to a degree by council monitoring. Council staff attempted to remove the slogan “Free for All” from advertising, and threatened to withdraw their logistical support on several occasions because of perceived negative Facebook comments. Although some of this can be put down to personality clashes, it amounted to coercion and control. I had stated from the beginning that this should be run for and by the community (not the Council), and for this reason it did retain some genuine grassroots integrity.