The Big Lizard Without Qualities?

I am hoping this is some kind of parody of the nigh universal tendency for (relational/new media/ all?) art to resemble the collateral campaign in The Man Without Qualities. [cf Matthew Hyland's great article on Documenta in Mute a few years back]. But it might just be a second order symptom of the disease hiding behind the illusion of a cure. If the reality is that the Lizards running the world are terminally incompetent or thwarted and the entire economy is arranged around a series of aesthetic bluffs and acts of wishful thinking (an 'as if' economy; cf James Heartfield's recent article on Mute), then the adoption of a playfully empty signifier in order to expose an agenda serves to conceal the fact that, in fact, there is no agenda. Like Lacan says, the phallus doesn't work unless it's veiled, and equally, the promise of unveiling is the surest way to keep the illusion that there is one operational. On the other hand, if one accepts that an empty, purely aesthetic economy may be the necessary form of appearance of a real but non-subjective imperative, i.e. the continuity of capital accumulation (by 'extractive' means, as Michael Hudson would say), then there really is something to expose after all – it's just it doesn't exist in the form of an agenda or agent but rather as a systemic process which is visible everywhere but not punctually located anywhere. But the powers that be, however diffuse, however decentralised, really do like to hide behind bouncy castles and costumed characters, so this project is certainly on to something. For example, 90% of Hackney Homes' budget goes on magazines documenting the face painting of little children leaving very little over for infrastructural maintenance and repair (their nominal purpose). The bouncy castle may be one of the few really durable architectural innovations of the post-war period. Anyway, such are the thoughts to which the big lizard's big idea gives rise! B ps this doesn't really work without the pictures so check out: http://www.reactorweb.com/biglizard/intro.htm -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Big Lizard's Big Idea Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:21:51 +0100 From: Reactor/Mail To: Reactor Mail PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: 17th August 2009 BIG LIZARD’S BIG IDEA Come give Big Lizard a hug! And get down with the Big Idea! Dates: 12-15 November 2009, 10:00-17:00 Venue: The Big Idea Fun Bus, Wunderbar Festival – Newcastle City Centre, UK. Check website for details of exact location nearer the time. Websites: http://www.reactorweb.com/ and http://www.wunderbarfestival.co.uk/ Admission: FREE Big Lizard’s Big Idea is an interactive artwork created by Reactor, an art collective based in the UK, whose projects put an audience’s interactions and experiences at their centre. Big Lizard hits Newcastle as part of the Wunderbar Festival on the Big Idea campaign trail in November. The lizard with the plan – a big character with an even bigger mission – Big Lizard’s Big Idea is in town and needs you to make it a success. Come along to the Big Idea Fun Bus, a place where you can get involved in the fun and games. Everyone has a part to play, so let the Big Lizard team find the right place for you, the place where you can make a difference. Whether appearing as a TV guest on the ‘Big Lizard’s Big Fun Time Message Show’, taking part in some hi-jinks on a parade or hosting a Champagne Party, you will be sure to make an impact. When you are down with the Big Idea you’ll get the special insiders view of the Wunderbar Festival, so climb aboard the Big Idea Fun Bus and give the Big Lizard of fun a hug. “Reactor combines the most playful of playfulness with a mathematical precision. While losing yourself in the sheer pleasure of their work, behind the curtain of your brain, associations are being tweaked and twisted. Long after visiting a Reactor work you realise that you were somewhere else entirely.” John McGrath, Director of National Theatre Wales Press contact for Wunderbar Festival 2009: Nicky Harrison, White Hot Communications T: 0191 280 8020 / 07824 390826 E: nicky@whitehotcomms.co.uk Notes for Editors: Big Lizard is a Disney-esque mascot character, whose irrepressible 'fun' persona examines the nature of such characters. Whereas costumed characters usually exist to advance promotional interests (be they commercial or social) Big Lizard is more ambiguous in purpose – and the ‘Big Idea’ itself is slippery and elusive. Is Big Lizard trying to sell something? Trying to get you to join something? And if so, what? The presentation is bright and wholesome, but is the reality something you’d really want to be a part of? With a playful nod toward outlandish conspiracy theories, the work encourages participants to rethink their relationship to the world they inhabit, and never to take first impressions for granted. The work’s entry point is via the Big Lizard character, who is encountered with an 'entourage' of aides/minders/canvassers at a temporary base in a public location. Together they encourage members of the public to get involved with the Big Idea, though fun and games, and a 'wholesome' – but ultimately illusive and empty – message. Once drawn inside the work however, curious participants find themselves in a labyrinth of possibilities about the meaning of the work, encountered across a variety of private spaces and only revealed to those who have chosen to participate further. Increasingly intrigued and engaged by what they experience, they venture deeper and deeper into the work, seeking to discover for themselves what the Big Idea really is…?” Big Lizard’s Big Idea is a co-commission for Wunderbar Festival (Newcastle, UK) and Donau Festival (Austria), where it was performed earlier this year. Reactor are supported by Arts Council England. Reactor creates projects that place the audience in a central and interactive role, exploring the dynamics of group behaviour and the production of collective reality and responsibility; demanding participants re-evaluate their relationship to the world they inhabit. Past projects include: The Geodecity Project (2007-9), Grizedale Arts, Angel Row Gallery, Quad, Scottish Sculpture Workshop and others; Munkanon (Austria, April 2008), Donau Festival; The Tetra Phase (Manchester, October 2007), Castlefield Gallery and Contact Theatre; Ivan’s Dogs (Nottinghamshire, June 2006), Sideshow Festival; GHAOS (2003-5), NOW Festival, Screenplay, LIFT, Diskurs Festival, Waygood Gallery, Situation Leeds and others.