Spatial design graduate Helena Steinmann shows how her mobile registration desk, in the shape of a vest will work for people needing to list their attendance at the Performing, Writing symposium.
A spatial design graduate has turned the requirement to register your name and attendance for conferences and events into performance art.
Helena Steinmann’s mobile registration desk is in the shape of a vest with many pockets. It will be worn by roaming event staff who will invite guests at the Performing, Writing symposium to write their name on the garment to confirm their attendance.
The symposium, which starts on March 10 at various venues within Wellington, is an interdisciplinary research initiative involving staff and students from Massey University’s College of Creative Arts, examining the relationship between the creative practices of performance and the written word. It is part of the Performance Arcade being run by New Zealand performing arts company The Playground till March 19.
Instead of signing in to register with pen and paper, each guest is invited to select a writing tool, whether it be a pen, felt tip or paintbrush, from the pockets of the primed painters canvas vest and then write their details on it.
“It ‘s the performance of going into someone’s pockets and getting an item of their choice that initiates that first move of performance writing,” Ms Steinmann, who graduates with a Bachelor of Design ( Hons) in May, says.
The choice of a white fabric, embroidered with blue lines of a school book, for people to write their registration details on is significant too, she says.
“It’s a blank canvas as a garment which coincides well with the idea of registering to begin Performing, Writing.”
Ms Steinmann was also keen to reference the idea of the high visibility vest and its practicalities outside the art world.
“The utilitarian properties of this shape certainly echo high vis.”
Fellow spatial designer, Joshua Lewis, is documenting the registration performance as well as all of the other 40 performances that feature at the symposium.
Long term, Ms Steinmann, aspires to study for her Master of Fine Arts in Berlin exploring interdisciplinary art and design studies, particularly the potential between fashion and spatial design.
“ I’ve always been interested in the dynamism of fashion as performance art.”
Also taking part in the Performance Arcade event is Professor of Art Tim Brennan who is an independent contemporary artist and poet. His attendance will be preceded by an inaugural professorial lecture on Thursday March 9, which will discuss the scope of his practice as an artist and educationalist, a journey that spans four decades and crosses a range of artistic traditions.
Click here for further information. The Performing, Writing symposium is offering $50 day pass registrations (over a maximum of two days) for students, local artists, musicians, performers, writers and designers.
Professor Tim Brennan’s inaugural professorial lecture From Nomad to Monad: Art, Place, Pedagogy and Politics is at 6pm, Thursday March 9, The Pit, Te Ara Hihiko, College of Creative Arts, Massey University, Entrance C, Wallace St, Wellington.