Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
22 March
Workplace Gallery, Gateshead
Reviewed by: Nisha Duggal
One of my favourite things about watching live art is trying to imagine the performers practising alone, at home, without any audience. The things that live artists do often seem so absurd that the thought of a solo performance tickles me, practised till it’s ‘just right’. I suppose it highlights the intention of the work; somehow a performance played without an audience seems more of an act than theatrics directed to a crowd. Anyway, these imaginings weren’t hard to achieve at Auto Test Pilot, a touring event that aimed to present a “club night as an artwork”. I caught the inaugural date at Gateshead’s Workplace Gallery – by the time you read this, the tour will be completed having travelled to Cardiff, London and Manchester. At the night I attended it seemed that the fifteen performers brought together for the tour also doubled up as the audience for the show. However, the minimal ‘crowd’ leant the proceedings an intimacy that might have been lost in a more buzzy atmosphere. Cabaret-style, the various acts did their stuff; each was introduced to one another by a camped-up compÈre, though I’m sure they had all met previously on the tour bus. I made distinctions between them: they were either artists who played around with the medium of music, or they were musicians who pushed their musicality to such an extent that it came under the umbrella of ‘art’. My personal tastes push me to recommend the latter – especially the fantastic Mr Thompson – a one-stop operatic shop of vocal gymnastics, reminiscent of the electro-acoustic Afro Celt Sound System. The organisers of Auto Test Pilot are planning for it to become an annual string of events. If they head to the north east again, and I’m still here, I’ll be going to see what’s on offer. Oh, and I’ll make sure that I invite my mates along too.
Writer detail:
Nisha Duggal
www.nishaduggal.co.uk
Venue detail:
Workplace
34 Ellison Street, GATESHEAD NE8 1AY
No one has commented on this article yet, why not be the first?
To post a comment you need to login
Back to top