Instruction Poems
Juxtaposition
Enter the quietest place you know
Scream for five seconds
Enter the loudest place you know
Whisper for five seconds
Record how the surroundings responded
Scott Bram
____
Influence
Dress formally
Sit in front of a group of people with your chin up and a straight posture
In a clear, understandable, and charismatic voice, spew nonsense
Examples include:
"Have you asked your father about his real name? The answer may surprise you!"
"The real body of Ronald Regan is hidden in an underground bunker in Greenland."
"Only about 21% of livers are human-grade edible."
"Windows and locks were invented to increase the sale of hammers"
Thank the audience for their time
Leave
Scott Bram
____
The Definition
Take a piece of paper
Try to draw a circle with only straight lines
Repeat until driven to insanity
Scott Bram
Evaluation Report | Primitive Games | Guggenheim Museum
Background & Methodology
"Leonardo initially envisioned he would be “directing” the
performance of Primitive Games. He entered the project with
his own goals and thoughts about what he wanted to evaluate.
When it became apparent to him that his intimate work with
participants during workshops meant he had to also be a
participant in the performance, MPC included elements of
both the participant and the staff evaluation methodology in
his evaluation."
Findings/Artist
"Leonardo did not express the concept of “understanding
ourselves” in the initial proposal... Leonardo noted differences amongst groups in the degree
of difficulty some activities held for participants (see p.9).
Differences amongst groups required him to shift how he
presented material and responded to it during workshops,
which he aptly described as “maneuvering between
communities as an artist” and “code switching.”
Findings/Participants
"Half of respondents commented on how much they enjoyed
the experience and gave praise and thanks to the Guggenheim
and the artist. Another respondent noted that “I just miss
everyone I did the performance with!” This data suggests that
the project and participants left a positive impression on each
other, even four months post-performance."
Findings/Staff
"Staff commented that they saw how the museum could “take
risks” to engage with topical issues, create a “safe space” for
dialogue “in ways that are more dynamic” than an exhibition.
For some, the Social Practice Art initiative proved that the
museum is “accepting responsibility that they are not just
guarding masterworks.” / “Museums are quite structured, bureaucratic… [social
practice art] makes the museum more permeable, asks
museum to be more elastic, flexible regarding where their
boundaries are.""
Retrospective-Pre-Evaluation
Audience Response Card
Q1: What did you find memorable or interesting?
The entire time the participants were interacting with one another was memorable to me. Since there are no words being spoken, what they're trying to convey with only their body movement is up to mass interpretation. Facial expressions add even more interpretation, as the viewers don't know if a participant is being genuine or not. The intertwining of hands, eye contact, and embracing was intense, and the emotion in the air palpable.
Q2: Could you tell who belonged to what group by the gestures they used?
No. Even with the gestures used, it's impossible to know where two people from different groups stand because no words are being used. A veteran and a person impacted by street violence could hold the same views on gun violence, but because they never outwardly state their opinions, it'll never be known. Even when Leonardo asks the participants a question and they move to either the left or right to agree or disagree, there's no telling who holds what opinion regardless of their group association unless they use words.
Primitive Games Performance
Throughout the report, the performance is described as it was as it was happening. It also delved deep into the thought process of Shaun Leonardo, what he envisioned, what he expected to get as a response, what he actually got as a response, the statistics of the participants, audience, and staff, and how all were affected by the performance. Primitive Games was a critique of the state of debates occurring between people. Instead of being willing to hear an opposing side's arguments, the goal of a debate has shifted to proving oneself right. People are so focused on proving that their opinion is the "correct" one that all use of language in a debate becomes wild and full of malice towards the other. To function, participants were divided into four groups based on the issue of gun violence. These groups were veterans, police officers, "citizens impacted by street violence", and "recreational users of firearms." Upon being asked a question by Leonardo, the participants would perform an action which they interpreted that question to embody. One finding was the feelings of the participants during their workshop before the performance began. Many people described the preparation as uncomfortable, feeling the sensation of their body getting hot, fight or flight and awkward. Having an art piece where the performance comes with participants interacting with each other, the gap between personal differences is bridged was another finding. It allows deeper connections made by using the sense of touch. Much like a newborn baby and their mother, human connection starts with touch, feeling skin to skin with solemn words spoken.
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