Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Lifeline was a large scale funambulism performance that involved participants from 15 countries including Ireland, Britain, Romania, Sweden, Norway and Italy which took place in July 2022. Over 140 performers crossed the fast flowing River Corrib in Galway Ireland on a highwire. The performance aimed to create a vision of hope and community to counter the widespread image of the river as a place of dread widely known locally for being the site of many suicides by drowning especially by young people. This paper examines how this social circus performance radically changed the aesthetics of funambulism through proposing an alternative to the aura of exceptionalism, individualism, and celebrity created historically by figures such as Blondin crossing the Niagara Gorge, and Philippe Petit crossing between the Twin Towers in New York. The social art focus presented a new image of safety through working with community even in extremis. This was shown by having up to eight funambulists walking on highwires at the same time. Each of these walkers used a harness attached by riggers in plain sight of the watching crowd, and each was supported by a support crew who could come onto the highwire to assist if a walker froze or slipped. In this way the Lifeline performance radically included the community of walkers, the community of riggers and support crew making them a part of the performance itself and profoundly changing the historical aesthetic of individualism and exceptionalism traditionally associated with funambulism performance.

Presenters

Jon Burtt
Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts, Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature, Macquarie University, Australia