What:
10CS
Where:
Metanoia
When:
June 18-27
Created
by: Gorkem Acaroglu, Reverse Butcher,
Dagmara Gleysztor, Shane Grant, Robert Jordan, Brienna Macnish, Zoe Meagher,
Vissolela Ndenzako, Elnaz Sheshgelani, Kyle Supski, Aseel Tayah, Lara Thoms,
Greg Ulfan, and Chi Vu.
Live art – what the hell is it? Nobody knows – or at least that is what I
thought until I saw 10CS at Metanoia.
Suddenly the whole thing made sense in a multilayered sensorially
overloaded kind of way.
10CS is a live art project initiated by
Metanioa as part of their first ‘promoted’ season at the Brunswick Mechanics
Institute. In my interview with the Metanoia team (Grant, Acaroglu, and
Ulfan)in May, they talked about their vision being to create innovative and
contemporary work with great artists.
They are focussed on “…a diversity of artists creating in and using the
space for different kinds of work.”
And thus was born the idea for 10CS. Grant, Ulfan, and Acaroglu brainstormed the
concept and then invited eight hand picked artists to participate and respond
according to their own personal arts practice.
10CS is shorthand for the Ten Commandments
which have a commonality across all the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Judaism,
and Christianity). Set up as a moral
code for conduct for the human race, each artist was invited to choose a
commandment they felt a connection with – other positive or negative.
What has emerged is a poignant, funny,
confronting, and insightful experience which is so intrinsically experiential
it is hard to talk about with words.
Every nook and cranny in the venue has been used but each piece feels so
right and complete that there is not really any sense that things have been
forced to fit in inappropriate places.
The responses vary wildly from roving
performance, to dance, to conversation, to computer games, etc… Greeted at the door by the golden calf (IVIE
Irrepressible), we were handed a map showing where in the building we could
experience the various commandments.
One of the wonderful things about 10CS is
that you construct your own journey and experience. There are no rules regarding the order in
which you travel through the commandments.
For responses that have a strict performative structure, such as ‘Thou
Shalt Not Steal’ created by Grant, performed by Richard Hallal), and to a
lesser extent ‘Honour Thy Father and Thy Mother’ (Butcher and Supski) there are
several ‘sessions’ so you can catch an iteration at various points in the
evening.
Other pieces such as ‘Thou Shalt Not Bare
False Witness Against Thy Neighbour’ (created by Ulfan, discussed by Ilan
Abrahams, Rida Khan, and Ian Ferguson) are just continuous throughout the
night, so you can sit down and have a listen at any time and then move on if
and when you feel like it. The only
strict attendance performance is Vu’s ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ which is a one on
one experience which is scheduled by getting your name on a list.
There are also roving performances which
include Tayah’s response to ‘Thou Shalt Not Take the Lord’s Name In Vain’, the
golden calf, and Hallal as a Beagle Boy from the Uncle Scrooge comics.
The running time of the event is somewhat
dependent on the size of the audience, but on the night I was there it
continued for about an hour. This means
that there is a good chance you won’t see everything the first time, but you
will be so intrigued and challenged by what you have seen you will definitely
want to come back to catch what you missed and re-experience the moments that
resonated the deepest.
I ran the gamut of emotions. In ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’ Hallal was
hilarious re-enacting a bank robber with a very, very serious drill and a house
brick. The story gets more serious as he
has to sign away his personal information and rights for a bowl of noodle
soup. In the space next to him, hidden
by a black screen we could hear the wailing of Sheshgelani as she interprets
‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery’.
On top of that we hear the reinforced
discussion of Ulfan’s discussion. You
might think this was distracting or annoying but this is where the genius of
Acaroglu’s artistic direction comes into play.
The overarching sense was the cacophony and
confusion of life as these rules and regulations are thrown at us and we are
left to interpret them as best we can whilst constantly interacting with all of
them at the same time. If only life was
as simple as being able to shut external noise off as you deal with one thing
at a time.
I can’t pick any favourites because all of
the responses are layered and textured and raise far more questions than they
answer. What I can tell you is that this
event is a true reflection of the diversity and complexity of Australian
society in our day and age. The
questions it is asking are questions for our time, as are the dilemmas the
dilemmas of our time.
10CS is a one off event which will never
again occur, and when it is gone there will be a great loss. My one hope and wish is that this so very
significant event is being archived well.
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