AMERICAN artist Rene Meyer-Grimberg (AKA Rene MG) has been staying at the Broken Hill Art Exchange for the past three weeks as she works on a creative research project.
Meyer-Grimberg is visiting Australia for the first time from her hometown of St Paul, Minnesota, and Broken Hill is her first stop.
“I didn’t just want to be a tourist,” she said.
“I wanted to do what I do, somewhere else, so I found this residency and space.
“Social practice art is what I call it.”
Meyer-Grimberg said her project is inspired by multiple things, including a philosophical study and movement called “Dig where you stand.”
The movement, which began in Sweden in the 1970s, encourages public participation when researching local history, particularly in labour history.
“There’s a treatise and it was actually just translated last year by a Swedish man named Sven Lundqvist,” she said.
“This idea is that by looking into history, you find more than just history. It’s a way to alter your perception of how people perceive a place.”
She’s been observing human behaviours and responses, such as attending tours of the town to see what people discuss and what questions they ask.
“An example is, in Broken Hill, there’s mining. But in Lundqvist’s example, he digs into cement factories and environmental effects, and shopping lists of women who were buying wax and things to cover their teeth because they were rotting,” Meyer-Grimberg said.
“So the deeper you research, the more you reveal.”
After three weeks, Meyer-Grimberg said she could easily stay longer and learn more about the town of Broken Hill, but she was ready to host a participatory immersive performance last night before leaving on Monday.
“So what I’ll do is create a situation… I put elements out where people can interact and they’ll have agency with what they choose and how they engage with the experience,” she said.
“They can participate or sit down and watch what happens or listen or facilitate in some way.”
Participants were invited to engage with the experience by working with a large piece of fabric and the other elements and artefacts Meyer-Grimberg had placed around the room.
She said she the purpose of this art is to hopefully shift perspectives.
“The purpose of any art is to expose people to something that alters their perception of the world,” she said.
“So let’s do something, lets have an experience, lets share a moment, a conversation, something that affects how you see yourself and where you live.”
