Commissioned Performance for the Armed Response exhibition, Geothe Institut, 2007

Duration: approx 30 minutes. Credit: Armed Response Security Guards, James Happe (Relaxation guide) and Planet Fitness.

 

Guarded Relaxation was a collaborative performance/ intervention whereby the participant/audience members were led to an open space and asked to lie down and relax. The relaxation guide then took the audience on a guided relaxation for approximately 15 minutes. Whilst they were relaxing, however, they were guarded/protected by Armed Response guards. Why do we need to be guarded when we are in an open space? Why do we need to be guarded to relax? To many people living in Johannesburg, open spaces like parks and fields- spaces where one should be able to relax and enjoy nature (Zoo lake for example) are spaces, which hold an element of fear. In this work I try make the absurdity of this fear evident. I want the participant to relax in an open space… but I also want them to think about the guards surrounding them. The tension between ‘being on guard’ and ‘being relaxed’ is interesting to me for it highlights a feeling which we grapple with everyday.

 

There is now a fence surrounding this field so we cannot access it anymore.