The goal of the pilot project for dialogical audience development model has been to create a new method to practise audience development in institutions of performing arts and independent groups to be available for use straight away. The responsible funding instances of the project have been the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the City of Helsinki Cultural Office.
With the assistance of the audience development model the audience developer/artist together with an audience group from its individual viewer experiences creates an audience´s polyphonic commentary performance or responsive artwork. The commentary performance of the audience is experienced as a dialogue with the previously seen and experienced original performance. All the three commentary performances of the pilot project were seen on the same stage or space as the original performance right after the original one. In connection with the whole performance dialogue an audience discussion that gathered or navigated the audience´s thoughts or experiences of the whole dialogue was also organised.
With the assistance of the model the public, artist and art institution or an independent group separately and together have a chance to discuss about the viewer experience of performing arts. To the artists of the original artwork the model enables a unique moment of being seen and heard through their own work. To the audience that has arrived to watch the whole performance dialogue it enables structuring, identifying and mirroring own experience with the viewer commentary made by the audience group. Also the commentary performance warms up the audience for the audience discussion. To the audience group participating in the project the viewer experience process within the group opens up an understanding of how holistic the audience experience of art can be. The feedback from the artists and partners has been very good. The collaboration has also produced both the art institutions and the independent group concrete benefit, namely new audience.
PROJECT PRESENTATION
The audience group of the pilot project “Yhteisöteatteriryhmä Aikuiset naiset ja Petri” (Community theatre group Adult women and Petri) experienced and faced three different partners: Svenska teatern (the Swedish theatre of Finland), the Dance House Helsinki and a modern dance group VAPAAkollektiivi as well as three different art works of performing arts: Theatre play “Titanic” directed by Akse Petterson, a live gallery work “Assembly” by choreographer Nicola Conibere and “Parts of Life” performance directed by choreographer Disa Krosness. After experiencing together each artwork the audience group processed the audience experience under professional direction. The processed audience experience material was composed to a manuscript or act structure and was then rehearsed to make it become its own artwork of performing arts each one at a time. These commentary performances or responsive artworks of the audience were seen as a dialogue with the original performances or artworks. First the original performance was seen and right after that the commentary performance was seen on the same stage and now also watched by the actors of the original performance in the audience. Also an audience discussion was organised after each dialogical performance evening.
"A performance that is experienced, shared and processed together makes any kind of art experience many times richer. Art belongs to everyone and everyone is also permitted to make art."
-Soile Härkönen, Community theatre group Aikuiset naiset ja Petri-
The production of the project began on August 2015. On March 2016 started the first collaboration with Svenska Teatern. Community theatre group Aikuiset naiset ja Petri prepared a commentary performance based on the audience experience from Titanic theatre play directed by Akse Petterson. The performance of the Community theatre group "Aikuiset naiset ja Petri goes Svenskan" was seen right after the Titanic play in the big stage of Svenska Teatern on the 15th April 2016. The actors and artists of the Titanic play watched the commentary performance from the audience and finally after the performance-based dialogue an audience discussion took place. The collaboration with Svenska Teatern succeeded over expectations. The artists of the Titanic play participated also eagerly in the audience discussion. The evening was a success for the theatre financially as well. The collaborative pefrormance sold best out of all the evenings during the performance season of Titanic.
The second collaboration took place in october 2016 as a part of the Kiss My Dance event organised by the Dance House Helsinki. We made an audience´s physical commentary performance in connection with the Assembly performance directed by choreographic Nicola Conibere in Merikaapelihalli, Kaapelitehdas located in Helsinki. This commentary performance by the audience was created only in four days. Both performances were seen in a dialogue in Merikaapelihalli on the 16th of November 2016. In connection with this art work ensemble also an audience discussion was seen and heard. Our project brought to the Kiss my Dance event plenty of new spectators that never before had watched or gotten to know modern dance. This was one of the main objectives of the Kiss my Dance event. To get new audience to get acquainted with the function of the Dance House Helsinki and watch the dance performances.
The third and last collaboration was realized together with a modern dance group VAPAAkollektiivi. We made a physical commentary performance in connection with the VAPAAkollektiivi´s PAN-Nordic performance called Parts of Life in Kanneltalo concert hall. These art work combinations were performed on 27th of January 2017 and 28th January 2017. Out of the collaboration productions this was the most dialogical. We visited in each other´s rehearsals. We held two audience discussions. The artists were very open towards dialogue and this collaboration clearly fed both the work of the artists and the work of the audience group "Community theatre group Aikuiset naiset ja Petri".
In the fourth and last stage of the project the results and the dialogical collaboration model are published. In connection with the publishing event we, the Community theatre group Aikuiset naiset ja Petri perform a Kosketusetäisyydellä (Within a touching distance) performance made of all the things experienced and learned during the project. The performance covers the developed understanding about the watching or experiencing performing arts during the project, we go through our rehearsal methods as well as the experienced and shared personal journey during the process. The publicly open publishing events are being held on thursday the 2nd March 2017 at 18 o’clock in Malminkartano library and on friday the 3rd March 2017 at 18 o´clock in Kanneltalo auditorium.
