This volume of the Studies in International Performance series investigates street arts as inherently participatory, regardless of the degree to which the audience is aware of its role; more than simply entertainment, street arts, in the author's view, can offer a training ground for democratic behaviours. Haedicke states the case for the social and practical significance of street arts as a catalyst for a re-evaluation and more considered perception of the world, resulting in active democratic engagement, and a ‘rehearsal’ for more overtly political spheres. There is a focus on the performative, both in mode and in affect, yet this text moves beyond the typically held preconception of ‘street theatre’, into often pluridisciplinary forms of engagement with active audiences.
The introductory chapter is grounded in the critical theory of connection between aesthetics and politics. Particularly pertinent to the street arts, and their palimpsests of fiction and reality, is Rancière's concept of ‘collage’; a friction between the familiar and the unexpected stimulates ‘a desire to understand critically what had seemed natural moments before’ (p. 7), thus creating a democratic condition, which is explored more fully in chapter 2.
The first chapter provides a sociohistorical route through the latter half of the twentieth century, as street arts developed through political upheaval and rebellion against the establishment, inspired by the experiential ideals of the situationists. We also encounter the first of the case studies that characterize this volume, sharing the author's own experiences of selected street works, as Haedicke endeavours to communicate ‘the thrill that these practices can arouse’ (p. 21).
Chapter 2 establishes the notions of democratic performatives that allow for an active citizenship, contextualizing them in relation to street-art processes and events. The three general forms that Haedicke highlights as generators of emancipated spectatorship through reclamation of public space are theatrical intervention, art-making as a social practice and the highlighting of social constructs within a critical frame, each referenced to a particular encounter of her own.
The ensuing four chapters delve further into these elements, as evidenced by examples found in other works that the author experienced at first hand, including chapters dedicated each to Royal de Luxe's The Sultan's Elephant and Friches Théâtre Urbain's Witness/N14.
There is also an interesting postscript that speculates on the evolving meaning of the ‘street’, or public space, as a discursive site that may no longer be attached to a geographical location, and art that draws upon this changing arena.
The research, despite the Europe of the title, is heavily rooted amongst French artists, whose favourable state-funding provision has made them leaders in the field, with strong advocacy and archival organization as well as enviable research and development opportunities. Exposing a form that is developing a more prominent public and academic profile across Europe, however, this book will serve as an important contemporary English-language reference, as well as a launch pad for further explorations.
