Artist - Docent

In the performance “Be-sides”,  8 Artists and 9 Docents switched their roles.

This performance stood on in-depth engagement and

two-way communication between the Artists and the Docents. 

It was to immerse into a reciprocal way of seeing, and reflect

upon the ‘social’ aspect of the art ecosystem we are part of.

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As the title suggests, this is to highlight our positioning of being ‘beside’ each other; becoming the ‘b-side’ of each other’s identity through the performance;

initiating a conceptual discourse on the social dynamics of art ecology

‘besides’ the showcase exhibition.
 

For artists, we see this as a chance to re-assess how one curates and presents

one's work by observing the shadow identity (docent “artist”) narrating one's work.

We imagine that the switch of roles in this performance allows artists to become reasonably objective in examining own art language.

For docents, we see this as an opportunity to consider the significance of docent as mediator in the art ecology, as well as how one’s idea of ‘art’ / ’artist’ / ’artwork’ is formed. The point of observation would be how in-person dialoguing with an artist affects one’s understanding of artwork/artist, and how this may influence one’s own mediation.