“We’ve always been taught not to stare; not to look at someone deeply because it might offend them. This is the life of the viewer. Alternatively, should we possess a birthmark, a glorious height, or unknown disability we risk being too noticeable and often ostracized or worse. This is the life of the viewed. How can we possibly create a safer space for both to really look?”(Heidi Latsky Dance)
ON DISPLAY is a performance framework created by Heidi Latsky Dance, a contemporary dance company based in New York. It occurs in cities around the world on or in the lead up to International Day for People with Disability, 3rd December. Participants place themselves on display in prominent public spaces as living sculpture. The performance celebrates diversity in as many ways as possible. In 2017 CreateA partnered with Bendigo Art Gallery to create ON DISPLAY in Bendigo. Video excerpts from cities all over the world were compiled into a film screened at the United Nations.
ON DISPLAY uses International Day for People with Disability as a focus for a performance installation that makes us conscious of the gaze, as viewer and as we are viewed. It enables participants and audiences to re-evaluate responses to difference. On Display is described as a “commentary on the body as spectacle and society’s obsession with body image. It turns a cast of diverse and extreme bodies into a sculpture court where the performers are the sculptures. ON DISPLAY began as a simple human sculpture court and is now a movement, a growing portfolio of works that explore and demonstrate inclusion through art.”
Ref: http://heidilatskydance.org/on-display-1 cited 16/09/2019
© 2024 Golden City Support Services Inc.
