Bricolage and assemblage as proponents for a participatory art practice through multicultural dialogue in a South African suburb

Abstract

The interlocutor assemblage

In this practice-led Fine Art research project, I examine how sculptural assemblages created as a form of bricolage and presented in my suburb, Sunnyside, as a multicultural, cosmopolitan, postcolonial space, can initiate a dialogical exchange between artist and curious viewers. This study argues that a bricolage and assemblage of art objects placed in a site-specific and site-responsive home studio can encourage multicultural audience engagement. The art objects are made from repurposed material through the method of bricolage and provide opportunities for viewer spectatorship and response from the residents of Sunnyside. The form of my art objects is closely bound to their context, both materially and culturally, to provide an accessible point of entry for viewers. Viewers may be familiar with the materials, which are informally sourced from my neighbourhood, contextually binding the artworks to their environment.

Bricolage is relevant to my work because it is democratic in its visual availability to viewers who may not necessarily be familiar with contemporary visual art. My creative practice is informed and sustained by the values of provisional solutions and tinkering that bricolage suggests and the appropriation of materials and techniques that are representative of their surroundings in Sunnyside. Assemblage and bricolage as primary methods of creation become the basis for a rhizomatic thinking structure, which is strongly organic and intuitive. Through this creative practice, I argue that the tactility and materiality of my assemblages invite spectator participation, as the ambiguity of the material imagery can evoke a quality of psychological absorption.

Insert key terms: Sunnyside – is a highly populated, old, ungated, middle-class suburb in Pretoria where the research is situated. Interlocutor – a person with whom one converses and who could act as a mediator. Bricolage – a construction made from a diverse range of repurposed materials. Assemblage – the combination of disparate materials and objects acquired by the artist. Provisional solutions – arranged temporally. Tinkering – attempts to construct or repair.