Art has no power.

Or does it?

In the first semester of my MA journey, a Critical Frameworks tutorial erupted into debate when our lecturer Professor Dominic Redfern made the seemingly offhand comment “Art has no power”. I enjoyed the ensuing argument so much I decided it was a t-shirt worthy slogan! I made a new version of the slogan on a t-shirt each week to wear to class for the remainder of the semester. I am not sure what Dom made of this, but it was a lot of fun and led me to reading and research around fast fashion and political activism.

There is a lot to unpack here. Notions of power and what kind of power and ascribed to who? If not Art, then who holds it? Is it a comment on the dominant power structure of neo liberal, capitalism? Or is this about art history and arts servitude in society…Or does it mean that maybe the artist holds the power?

By visiting places of cultural impact and significance in the CBD whilst wearing my shirt, I pondered how one can use performative and playful gestures to expand the existing narrative of a given place. Passersby by (and bemused staff) simultaneously could read the space I inhabit, which comes with the given or known narrative. This can include (but is not limited to) its history, politics, social or urban context, physicality, personal memories and knowledge or understanding of a space and its uses by society. This is gained by being read visually or remembered, but become layered with a new narrative when I intercept this space.