Marta Połeć, Street artists as an example of non formal art organization

Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 2 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 2

Marta Połeć (University of Warsaw) AS AN EXAMPLE OF NON FORMAL ART ORGANIZATION

Key words: street artists, organizational ethnography, creativity, freedom, responsibility.

Abstract: Article is a result of 2-years ethnographical research concerning street artists as a non formal art organization. Methodology of field research included anthropology interview, participating observation and analysis of issues from mass media discourse. Article says about problem of regulations on street artists’ activity in urban area in the biggest touristic cities in Poland: Cracow, Wroclaw, Czestochowa and Gdansk. Do you think presented standards, artistic impression, appearance and personal culture should be estimated by special commission, or by the people watching and listening performers on the streets? Faithfully quoted excerpts from street artists’ stories show if implementation of the rules is needed and how it could be done without limiting artistic freedom.

Playing on the street provides not only uncanny feelings, but also amazing sensations. – You’re being listened to by hundreds of people. It’s a verification of your talent; no one knows you, you seat anonymously on the street and your only protection is the voice of your instrument… And people are standing or sitting on the pavement for half an hour.

1 Tremendously pleasant experience – confesses Stefan Błaszczyński [Krupiński, 2013] .

That’s how the reactions to street artists look like. People, fascinated by the best of the performers, can listen and watch for a long time, lost in created by the artist evanescent world of magic. My entrance into street artists’ environment was not accidental. I chose this organization for my first serious field research and I dedicated it about two years. During that time I was doing organizational ethnography, using anthropology interview2 and participating observation. Performers seemed to be outgoing people, they were not distancing themselves from me. With time they even started to treat me like one of them, always willingly answering my questions and sharing their thoughts. My conversationalists have worked all over the world. Some of them knew each other beforehand and in some cases it was me who contributed to their meeting each other.

Artists admitted that working on the street means being their own bosses. They do not answer to anyone but themselves. They allot their spare time to looking for inspiration for performances and to improving their costumes. On the one hand, they are independent – no one can order them what to do. On the other hand, they can only count on themselves, so this freedom entrails responsibility. They have to face the consequences of their decisions on their own, no one will help them, no one will repay their debts. One of the mime artists claimed that this job was addictive. It provides a lot of good vibrations from encountered people, but also carries considerable insecurity. It depends on matters which they cannot change, for example the weather conditions.

1

An excerpt from review found on Motion Trio band website. All quotations translated by the author of the article.

2 Widely described in: Anthropology of organization: Methodology of field research [Kostera, 2005, p. 125].

83

Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 2 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 2 Another performer had such an elaborated outfit that was taking a lot of space that even a light breeze made it impossible for him to work. The wind would just carry him away, casting him of his pedestal. Street artist’s work requires huge stamina and fitness, therefore, at a certain age those people have to give up their work. A mime artist with several years practice admitted that he wanted to leave the street for, for example, theatre many times. He claimed it was safer to perform in a theater, because there he knew the audience’s expectations. While people on the street were unpredictable – they tended to criticize unfairly, shout insults and even physically attack. In the theatre, an idea of attacking an actor wouldn’t even cross a spectator’s mind but on the street boundaries disappear. The man also admitted that a living statue’s work was hard and most of the performers had moments of doubt, considering a getaway to “normal” work that would give them a feeling of stability, safety and monotony. It’s hard to disengage oneself from such a lifestyle and resign from the street, although many of them would like to do that: Coz the street is a trap, I think. It’s neither permanently good, nor bad. There come different moments. Some wonderful and nice but there are also dreadful ones. This street is so insidious that you don’t work every day. You don’t work every day of the week. It’s illusive and... and after the season it’s much more worse. [Mime Artist]

Many times, during the interviews, I heard stories which changed my way of thinking. Artists claimed that they gave encountered people things which could not be bought, such as joy, smile, jolly experience and even some unforgettable memories. There was no need to wait long for corroboration of their words. I only needed to stay near for a little while to observe as an enthusiastic crowd would gather around the artists. Positive energy and intentions were getting back to them in double. Sometimes people were staying for a longer time to express their admiration and gratitude for a nice, unexpected meeting. They would admire costumes and ask about the details of the outfits, often made by the artists themselves. A couple of foreigners approached one of the performers and confessed that they had recognized him and remembered him performing in Spain a few years ago. Happiness on the artist’s face told me, how much that meeting pleased him. Similar reaction was awoken in one of his colleagues by a meeting with a married couple which comes to Cracow every year during the summer holidays to see his show. They are always interested in how his character looks like and how the artist has changed his performance. Mime artists claim that they do not always expect payment for the photos. Sometimes a nice conversation is enough. One of the artist’s request seemed to me to be the most original kind of payment. Hearing the question of how much one needs to pay for a picture, he would give an alternative: “Give whatever you can or tell me what you have seen in one of your dreams”. He admitted that during seven years of his work only a few people had agreed to tell him about their dreams. Nevertheless, the fact that someone, in return for a picture, would share such an intimate aspect of their life meant to him a lot. Situations when people, instead of approaching him and dropping at least 1 zloty into his cup, take a picture and go away without paying as if a street artist’s job does not deserve financial gratification, unfortunately, happen more frequently. He also would be disconcert when someone would try to give him 1 grosz.

In such cases he would give it back. He does not want to get anything from such people. He would only like for them to change their viewpoint. Other artists agree that such behavior is insulting.

People act towards street artists in ways that they would be ashamed of in different circumstances.

One of the artists who wears a mask laughed that people who address mime artists did not keep their distance. They do not use form such as “Mr.” or “Ms.”, just shout: “Hey, you!”. The artist was subjected to such occurrences many times, especially while talking with young people, who, in normal circumstances and knowing her true age, probably would not address her in such an informal way.

Another artist, dressed as Mad Hatter from the film Alice in Wonderland [2010], told me that some encounters from his work meant to him more than the money he earned. Sometimes a positive reaction or a smile can give energy to work for several days. However, it was encounters with disabled people and children that he remembered best. Children naively believed that the characters

84

Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 2 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 2 they met were. As if they could have stepped out of a fairy tale to wave and laugh with them.

I remember a five years old girl coming to look at a mime artist wearing a costume of Death several times during a day because he appealed to her a lot. When later, during his brake, the artist spotted her and approached not dressed in the costume and told her who he was, she couldn’t believe.

When he showed her a place where the outfit was lying, she finally believed. The man spent some time with the little girl and her parents, watching the rest of the artists. He was saying their names and later they together took pictures with those artists. She even approached Devil, who terrified her, but later she agreed that Devil was nice, he liked children and was not as dreadful as she had thought at first. I’ve heard about similar adventures from each of the artist. Despite the fact that every story was different, they always evoked comparable emotions and a desire to share them with other people.

Sometimes I was a witness to situations when people didn’t want to take a picture, they would just drop money or approach the living statue only to say how much the creation appealed to them. Observing moments like that, I really envied artists. Hearing so many kind words from random people must be amazing. I call mime artists “dream sellers”, however, they claim that it is them who feel like transported to a magical world thanks to the remarkable people and situations they encounter: There are wonderful moments sometimes... with people who are not as healthy as others.

Who are disabled. They can’t see, they can’t hear, they can’t walk because they don’t have their legs. And these people have different sensitivity. It’s something wonderful that... that there’s an alternative thread of understanding. Like with children. With people, who are completely healthy it also occurs... something so great that simply... – well it’s priceless, indeed – gives energy for days. And I had a situation... for several days a disabled boy was calling on me. He was with his brother, older than him. His brother was a guardian and he was lukewarm towards me. Straight away, from the first moment. But the younger one wanted to approach. However, his brother wasn’t so sure, he didn’t know, well... ‘coz it’s necessary to pop [money], or something... And I say: “Dude, come here!”. Straight off, because I saw it, the hesitation. “No, no, don’t give me anything. Come here, come on!”. And... and he was talking to me for a while. We took a picture. He said he didn’t need a photo, because he would remember me. He only wanted to look at me. And he said that he had one huge request to me. Would... would I do something for him. Would I promise him something. I said: “I can’t promise some things, because I’m not sure I’ll manage to keep those promises”. And he said that he only wanted to dream about me sometime. Because he didn’t have many dreams. He said that I was so colorful, that he wanted me in his dream. Then he would have it on his own.

He would know, that he had such a dream. I said... I said: “It’s great, dude, you’ve made my day, actually...” [breaks off]. So incredible that he asked me for something like that. That I appealed to him so much and there was such a connection, as I said formerly... some kind of understanding between two worlds, I guess. ‘Coz I gave something to him, a new acquaintance, and he wanted to see this person again. And I thought, that’s... great. That’s just priceless.” [Mad Hatter]

Time has shown that, in case of street artists, freedom is not something obvious. When I was researching street art, local governments in several cities in Poland were thinking about implementing regulations on this kind of activity. For this reason the matter of my interest was appearing in mass media more and more often. Thanks to this, even being away, I could still follow the occurrences on-line and after coming back I could listen to emotional relations of the events from people who were most involved in the issue. Many of them were working in different cities in Poland so it was easy for them to compare and critic the, in their opinion, unfavorable rules. Limitations in expressing one’s artistic creativity in urban area were introduced for example in: Gdansk, Cracow, Wroclaw and Zakopane. Mostly they were connected with the choice of the place of performing, paying fees, adherence to nocturnal silence, levels of sound intensity during the concerts, and, last but not least, appearing in front of a special commission assessing artists’ performances and costumes. Like in Cracow, local government in Zakopane was planning to accept an act concerning

85

Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 2 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 2 creating a “cultural park”3. My conversationalists agreed that such initiative would be beneficial if the city was dealing with an issue of artists creating low standard art – bothering people with poor performance, monotonous repertoire or tawdry outfits. One of the most criticized in mass media people was Red Buccaneer – pirate from Gdansk, who won fame due to aggressive behavior and wangling money. As one of the members of The Garrison Gdansk Society ascertained: “He falsifies [...] the image of the old sea man, not only because of his bearing, but also appearance which [...] he presents” [Potocka, 2013].

Another person whose performance awoke some agitation was Cracovian Mephistopheles.

Cracow’s local government got two written complaints concerning tourists’ outrage, stating that a devil character standing in front of St. Mary’s Basilica abuses religious feelings4 and “is unseemly” (the citation became one of Devil’s favorite humorous phrase) for a prestigious area listed on UNESCO World Heritage List. Similar allegations were aimed at a mime artist dressed as Death. The artists have always quoted the 73rd article of The Constitution of Republic of Poland, guaranting everyone “artistic creativity freedom”. They also do not agree with a statement contained in the local government’s refusal of concluding agreement to perform at Cracow’s Market Square. There was said that “busking above-mentioned figures encountered negative public opinion” 5. Devil as well as Death have been working not only in Cracow but also abroad for more than seven years. Recounted two complaints, the only ones from their rather long seniority, weren’t a reflection of ”negative public opinion”, but were rather individual critical opinions. One of those two artists later has got a permission to perform again, but was greatly disappointed by the local government’s rash decision.

What’s more, the work interdiction deprived him of earning his income during the most profitable time of the year – summer holidays. People’s reactions after all the discussions on the matter in the mass media showed that the characters were generally liked and had a positive opinion. People were responsive, were asking other artists when Devil will be back and were offering their signatures to defend him.

To show objection to the rules which regulate work of street artists in Wroclaw6, one of the social networking service created an initiative called Wroclaw Buskers Campaign. The originators aimed at implementing a policy based on the ones standing in other European cities, for example: Prague, Cambridge or Dublin. The purpose of the campaign was to make people realize how current policies look like and to obtain their aid in changing the rules. The most important proposals were:  to create Code of Conduct (published in Polish and English on the Internet), which ought to abolish the permit system of written licenses,  to appoint representatives for street artists, who will represent the community in cooperation with the local government,  in case of viewers’/auditors’ discontent, request for direct contact with the artist, instead of immediate reporting complaint to municipal police7.

In Czestochowa street performances have met not only with interest and positive reactions of viewers and auditors but also of the local government, which adopted different strategy than Cracow or Wroclaw. Łukasz Stacherczak from press office stated: “We have no restrictions. Buskers don’t have to get any licenses, on the contrary, in our opinion it’s a great idea to make city alive” [Romanek, 2012]. Artists admitted that if someone presented satisfactory artistic standards and was just good, there’s no need to be afraid of presenting for commission and getting license without which legal busking is impossible. My conversationalists wandered if the introduced regulations had 3

Cultural park this year already? [Bobek, 2013].

Devil without license [Mazuś, 2013, p. 30].

5 Private communication.

6 DECREE NO 2820/11 OF WROCLAW’S PRESIDENT from day 19th october 2011 concerning making available internal avenues: Rynek, Oławska street (from Rynek to Kazimierza Wielkiego street), Świdnicka (from Rynek to Teatralny square), Sukiennice, Przejście Garncarskie, square at St. Maria Magdalena Churh (without part being communal avenue) to organize the open air events and authorial artistic presentations.

7 https://www.facebook.com/wroclawbuskers?ref=stream&hc_location=stream 4

86

Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 2 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 2 been set to make street artists’ standards higher and to please people and attract tourists or whether they were a result of political arrangements. Some of them sadly confessed that usually not much change for the better and the biggest modification was an increase in limitations: Well, I used to think that it could change something, but [...] anarchistic intrinsic appellation: “Cultural Park” doesn’t sound too good and free. [Only] with an imposed scheme. From people who have perhaps never created anything, who don’t create, but want to appoint artistry canon for the others – what can be shown on the street or what can’t. And I have thought: “Why should someone hold me down?”. If I can stay under the St. Mary’s Church, if I can stay on the Grodzka street, or wherever. They want to impose their way of thinking. It... it’s probably like every system. That’s why... I don’t know, I don’t believe it’s impossible to change the system. I’ve made up my mind that in someway I will be changing it, and... – I’ll use ugly word, which doesn’t associate well – “fight” with it, because... someone starts to intrude on my freedom. And tells me which costume I can wear... or that I can’t do something. I pay... I used to pay to local government for the place, where I used to stand, and I didn’t feel... any comfort on the grounds of paying for this place. [Mime Artist]

What’s interesting, all the red tape – like submitting a motion and waiting for an answer – didn’t wake up any objections. Cracow’s Task Group verifying street artists was composed of specialists from various branches, among others: a choreographer, a conductor, an actor and a stage-manager, as well as a composer and a musicologist8. Commission, estimating compatibility of presented composition/performance with the one described in a motion and considering the artist’s appearance and personal culture9, was perceived as benevolent and professional. Doubts started arising just after concluding the agreement. Artists explained that if they paid the city for their place on the street (for example in Cracow 2 zloty’s for square meter daily for mime artist’s pedestal), they would like municipal police to look after their interest, for example by taking noticing when people take photos of the street artists without paying for it. For my conversationalists it was a very sensitive matter. No one of them liked posing to the picture for free. Usually they try to ignore behavior like this, but when they lose patience, they just turn back, block the view or just leave. One performer was so combative in his ideas that tourist guides, seeing him, were reminding tourists to pay for the pictures. Very often, when he noticed object-glasses taking aims at him, he would just turn his back on them. Strongly agitated he would even take the person’s photo with camera in his mobile phone. Another mime artist admitted that when municipal police interrupted his work, demanding to show them his license, he felt like a criminal. If he did not do that instantaneously, he would be ordered to come down from pedestal and would receive a fine. Officials were also making pictures to catalogue – to make recognizing artists with licenses easier. During their work, street artists are being photographed all the time, but the purpose of the pictures taken by the officials was causing their suspicion. They were joking among themselves that the officials needed the photos to build a card-file, not a catalogue. Situation like this brings to mind Bentham’s Panopticon, where the power is permanently visible and cannot be verified10. Artists are aware of being controlled at all times, however, they do not know when the officials will come. Everyone can hear an argument compelling them to submit to discipline and leave the pedestal.

8

Cracow’s X Factor – casting for a busker [Warszawski, 2013].

Public Information Bulletin, Rules: Information for street artists putting in for possibility of presenting their composition in the area underlain by Cultural Park Old Town Act in 2013.

10 Like in case of prisoner [Foucault, 1993, p. 242].

9

87

Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 2 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 2 Literature: Public Information Bulletin, Rules: Information for street artists putting in for possibility of presenting their composition in the area underlain by Cultural Park Old Town Act in 2013, Cracow, 2013, download 21-08-2013 from: http://www.bip.krakow.pl/?dok_id=54493 Bobek Ł., 2013, Park kulturowy już w tym roku?, http://www.dziennikpolski24.pl/pl/region/regionpodhalanski/1285555-park-kulturowy-juz-w-tym-roku.html [dostęp: 02.09.2013].

Foucault M., 1993, Nadzorować i karać: Narodziny więzienia, Warszawa.

Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 2 kwietnia 1997 r., http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/ DetailsServlet?id=WDU19970780483 [dostęp: 27.06.2013].

Kostera M., 2005, Antropologia organizacji: Metodologia badań terenowych, Warszawa.

Krupiński W., Z instrumentem na streecie: Krótsze lub dłuższe okresy grana na ulicy ma w swych biografiach wielu bardzo znanych muzyków, http://www.motiontrio.com/pl/cms.pl/227 [dostęp: 02.09.2013].

Mazuś M., 2013, Diabeł bez licencji, „Polityka” nr 31, s. 30–31.

Potocka E., 2013, Agresywny pirat z Gdańska: Kolejna skarga na „Czerwonego Korsarza”, http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/trojmiasto/agresywny-pirat-z-gdansk a-kolejna-skarga-na-czerwonegokorsarza/49yb5 [dostęp: 03.09.2013].

Romanek B., 2012, „Dziennik Zachodni”, Śląskie: W miastach przybywa ulicznych grajków, http://www.dziennikzachodni.pl/artykul/625817,slaskie-w-miastach-przybywa-ulicznych-grajkowwybierz-najlepszych,1,3,id,t,sm,sg.html#galeria-material [dostęp: 02.09.2013].

Warszawski M., 2013, Krakowski X Factor, czyli casting na ulicznego grajka, „Gazeta Krakowska”, http://www.gazetakrakowska.pl/artykul/773007,krakowski-x-factor-czyli-casting-na-ulicznegograjka-zdjecia,id,t.html?cookie=1 [dostęp: 11.09.2013].

Wroclaw Buskers Campaign, 2013, Wrocław, https://www.facebook.com/wroclawbuskers?ref =stream&hc_location=stream [dostęp: 09.09.2013].

Zarządzenie nr 2820/11 Prezydenta Wrocławia z dnia 19 października 2011 r. w sprawie udostępniania dróg wewnętrznych: Rynku, ulic Oławskiej (od Rynku do ul. Kazimierza Wielkiego), Świdnickiej (od Rynku do pl. Teatralnego), Sukiennic, Przejścia Garncarskiego, skweru przy kościele św. Marii Magdaleny (z wyjątkiem części będącej drogą gminną) na organizację imprez plenerowych oraz autorskich prezentacji artystycznych, http://wrosystem.um.wroc.pl/beta_4/ webdisk/148081%5C2820zp11.pdf [dostęp: 12.09.2013].

Marta Połeć – graduate of Ethnology and Management at University of Warsaw, student of Culture Management at Jagiellonian University. Author is doing field research about street artists as a non formal organization. She is interested in anthropology in the city, organizational culture and art in urban space. Organizational ethnography is a result of experience accrued in the course of doing field research concerning anthropology and management. She is an author of chapter in the book describing amazing stories about management, redacted by Monika Kostera (forthcoming).

88

Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 2 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 2

Artyści uliczni jako przykład nieformalnej organizacji zajmującej się sztuką Słowa kluczowe: artyści uliczni, etnografia organizacji, twórczość, wolność, odpowiedzialność.

Streszczenie: artykuł powstał w wyniku trwających dwa lata badań etnograficznych na temat działalności nieformalnej organizacji artystów ulicznych. Na metodę badawczą złożyły się: wywiad antropologiczny oraz obserwacja uczestnicząca, uzupełnione o analizę zagadnień poruszanych w dyskursie medialnym. Tekst porusza problem regulacji przez władze miejskie działalności mimów, żywych rzeźb oraz muzyków występujących w przestrzeni miejskiej na przykładzie kliku z największych turystycznych miast w Polsce: Krakowa, Wrocławia, Częstochowy oraz Gdańska. Czy prezentowany poziom, wrażenie artystyczne, prezencję i kulturę osobistą artystów powinny oceniać specjalnie powstające komisje, czy też oglądający oraz słuchający ich na ulicach ludzie? Przytaczane wierne fragmenty wypowiedzi artystów ulicznych pozwalają rozważyć, czy w tej pracy potrzebne jest wprowadzenie regulacji i w jaki sposób, aby nie stanowiły one ograniczenia wolności artystycznej.

Marta Połeć – absolwentka Etnologii oraz Zarządzania na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim, studentka Zarządzania Kulturą na Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim. Autorka badań terenowych na temat działalności nieformalnej organizacji artystów ulicznych. Jej zainteresowania obejmują antropologię miasta, kulturę organizacyjną oraz sztukę w przestrzeni miejskiej. Etnografia organizacji jest wynikiem połączenia doświadczeń zdobytych w ramach badań terenowych prowadzonych na Etnologii z kierunkiem Zarządzania. Autorka rozdziału w książce pod redakcją profesor Moniki Kostery: O zarządzaniu historie niezwykłe: Studia przypadku z zarządzania humanistycznego (2013, w druku).

89