Proximity reaches out to audiences
Now in its third year, Australia's first one-on-one performance art event, Proximity Festival, has a number of exciting changes for 2014, from a new venue - Fremantle Arts Centre - to the inclusion of international artists for the first time.
On the new location, co-curator Kelli Mccluskey - best known to Perth performance-art lovers as part of PVI Collective - says annual venue changes are "part of the beauty of Proximity".
"New venues keep the festival alive for us as curators and the artists who are participating because they get to respond to different places," says Mccluskey, whose fellow curator is Sarah Rowbottam (Mccluskey, Rowbottam and James Berlyn founded the festival in 2011).
On the second big change, this year's event sees American artist Loren Kronemyer and UK-based artist Sylvia Rimat join practitioners from WA, New South Wales and Victoria.
"I think the international participation this year is really down to it being a unique festival," Mccluskey says.
"It's certainly the only one of its kind in Australia but if you look worldwide there isn't anything else like it. It's starting to pique interest at an international level. We were really blown away by the number of international applications we had this time around, which made us sit up and take notice. We have a bigger profile overseas than we thought."
Proximity features three programs comprised of five 10-minute pieces. Punters can choose one program or all three in one night as a kind of interactive audience-artist marathon.
Caroline Garcia's Twerkshop is described as "a cultural lesson behind the ass-shaking phenomenon."
Toyi-Toyi Theatre's The Queue takes a subtly subversive look at Australia's citizenship test requirements. Ian Sinclair's Learner explores the ritual of attaining a driver's licence. Tanya Lee's Personal Trainer purports to investigate the "pitfalls of gym culture and fitness fads."
It sounds like a fun and diverse program of works both serious and silly but, as Mccluskey acknowledges, it's not easy to persuade audience members to become active participants in a show.
To that end, the festival has included the day-long Proximity Symposium to explore ways of appealing to audience members apprehensive about being part of the show.
"When we develop and announce the program we're careful not to give too much away because we want that element of surprise," Mccluskey says.
"It's expected that you'll feel a bit of fear and excitement, not fully knowing what is going to happen. One of the reasons for the symposium is to target that sense of dread that comes with the word participatory.
"Why is it we feel fear and apprehension in these sorts of situations? It has to be about audience agency, about their journey and what they're getting from it. It's not meant to be a forced or imposed experience - it's meant to be a generous and shared one."
Not that Proximity had any trouble selling out. While it is hard to persuade most people from their comfort zones when it comes to art, there is a global shift towards what Mccluskey calls a "more personal, customised and unique experience".
"We're so used to everything being mediated in our lives," she says. "We talk to each other via text, or Skype, or email. So the act of physically sitting down with someone and having that intimate exchange, or having a task to undertake, what two people can do can be quite extraordinary."
Proximity Festival runs from today until November 2.
The Proximity Symposium is this Saturday.
For the full program go to proximityfestival.com.
