Artist Workshop - Owen Parry

Owen G. Parry is an artist and researcher working across expanded performance cultures in theatre, live art, installation, image and writing.

He led us in the workshop, 'Fan Riot 2020';

"Fan Riot 2020 is a workshop for artists and fans. It contemplates the revolutions and subversions that can surge around the figure of the fan. In it we will borrow from the weird and wonderful practices of the fan, exploring cult strategies such as “shipping” and “slash” (a means of erotically pairing characters in fan fiction), parody mashups, tribute acts, reaction videos, shrines, moshing, chanting, body modification, stalking, obsessing and fainting! By shifting the focus away from conceptually distanced artistic methods to the embodied and emotionally driven practices of the fan, what new pleasurable, creative and critical potentials can emerge? What might occur in a radical re-thinking of the artist-researcher as fan?"

Fanfiction:

- We started by exploring what out preconceptions of 'fan-fiction' and fan-culture were and the emotional responses we had to them

- Here were some of the results of our discussion:

We then began to discuss the methodologies that artists may share with the 'fan':

- The process and ideologies used to create the platform of the fan

- Research and detective work; celebrity management are responsible for knowing the demographic of fans vs fans having full information available to them

- Levels of dedication to a group or individual; the concept of the 'surface fan' vs a true fan who searches deeper for information on the subject

- Tribute homages

- Being possessed by the things you love

We then began to explore the worlds that we are fans of:

- We established that we are all fans of something, whether that is a group, individual or a movement

- We were asked to look within ourselves to find something / someone we subscribe to and have a strong appreciation of

- I wanted to apply this to my project and began to think about individual inspirations and presences that exist within the world of my project

- I began to look more towards what I identify with in terms of groups and communities in my life and decided to create a shrine dedicated to the LBGTQIA+ community

- I felt that this had more relevance regarding my project, as it is an element of my individuality that is used as a persona-based aesthetic both in terms of my presentation of it and in the way it effects what others see of me

- I created a manifested shrine of this, built it, activated it, and then TURNED IT UP

Here is a collection of photos showing that process:

OWEN PARRY - Web: http://owengparry.com Tumblr: http://fanriot.tumblr.com/ Twitter: @_fanriot