Commoning and site-specific environmental performance in Marseille

Abstract

              Given that our current environmental crisis is, as Amitav Ghosh argues, “in every way a collective predicament”, a critical question for discussions of the ecological impact of the arts is their role in fostering the kinds of collaborative forms of action called for to address environmental challenges. Such discussions include Baz Kershaw’s criticism of the anti-ecological “production of spectators” by theatres, and Brian Kulick’s more recent argument that theatre generates moments of collective attentiveness that might contribute to collaboration beyond the performance event. 

              Here, drawing on recent scholarship on the commons and commoning, we examine site-specific environmentally-focused performances in which the collaborative engagement of non-artist participants was a central part of the creative work. All set in social and environmental interstitial sites, these works constitute a mode of performance that integrates social collaboration and environmental aims and grounds these within an urban social framework extending beyond the time of the performance event. We examine the key aesthetic strategies employed in addressing the specific social and historical context of Marseille, and we look to identify the most important factors shaping their contributions to the city as a site of collaborative approaches to environmental issues.