Dr Vahri McKenzie
Monday, 8 November 2021
ABSTRACT
Live art practice employs action and presence but is mainly experienced in exhibition spaces via documentation of actions and presence, with implications for a work’s aesthetic and social meanings. Participatory, community-engaged live artwork Colour me, Beautiful explored relationships between colour, identity and gender through the development of ‘colour portraits’ co-produced by gallery visitors and an artist-delegate. This practice-led research examines the effects of new techniques in live art practice, conceptualised via theories of ‘delegation’ (Bishop 2012) and ‘distribution’ (Rancière 2013), with the aim of balancing aesthetic and social meanings.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Dr Vahri McKenzie is Research Fellow in Arts and Health in the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research at UC. Her work as a scholar focuses on valuing and evaluating creative practices with methods that show how artists contribute to new knowledge. Her artistic practice frames creative engagement as a model of, and practice for, ways of being together in a complex world.
