Most of the time, the Blue Oyster Gallery is quiet, almost too quiet. My shoes, my squeaky office chair, the phone, the stapler, and my keyboard form the percussion section of an administrative orchestra that intermittently plays through the quiet gallery spaces, a new verse every minute from 11am until 5pm. Background noise is provided by the parking warden’s scooter and random people jumping out of their cars to head into Les Mills next door. With a new exhibition of quiet, contemplative work every month for the past seventeen years, the Blue Oyster is a place people expect to be awkwardly peaceful.
What I love most of all though, is the few times in a year the Blue Oyster is so noisy that it is beyond belief. During these times, we get all manner of complaints and questions from our neighbours and passersby. “What is going on in there?!”
The answer is: performance art. Performance art is synonymous in Dunedin and if you’re new to town this may not be the last time you will hear about it. Performance art is scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated, spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. For the Blue Oyster, performances are often quiet too, but they involve such tension that you feel as though you can hear the artist’s mind ticking as he or she is undertaking their work before you.
In 2014 Samin Son possibly made the most noise we’ve ever heard in the gallery. Hammer Piece was exactly as it reads – loud. In 2013 the Yellow Men performed a series of their own endurance based works as well as re-performances of past Blue Oyster works such as Audrey Baldwin’s, where she sealed herself in a toffee cage and licked her way out for two hours. They also re-worked Mark Harvey’s 2006 performance, where he took a journey down George Street on the ground using plungers to propel himself forward.
This year we are paying tribute to the rich history of performance art at Blue Oyster by inviting Mark Harvey back to town on the tenth anniversary of his work to conduct a two-day workshop that you or anyone can attend for free, thanks to funding from the Dunedin Fringe Festival. Give yourself a chance to be part of this history and get to know one of the city’s favourite experimental galleries. The workshop runs Friday 4 and Saturday 5 March 10am–5pm and there are still spaces available. You can sign up by emailing me: director@blueoyster.org.nz
Chloe Geoghegan
Blue Oyster Gallery Director