What is transgression, in games studies and modern game play? In play theory, it is transgressive behaviour whcih play allows. This is a main point of the work of Brian Sutton Smith and his notion of the ambiguity of play. Flanagan in her work critical writes how games can create a critical space. The notion of the magic circle as i have discussed is of a space in the world but apart. I have seen this in relation to the everyday and to theories around the everyday. In my conversations with my supervisors, Sam often questioned how what I do can be seen as unpolitical, as by its very nature it is political he believed. As I undertook my research i noticed different reactions, obviously to where the work was cited, or how informed the consent was, or the level of agreement I received from the council. In the works i studied such as Lottie child’s game works, i felt they were only slightly transgressive,a s they involved minimal trespass, but that it could at times become more transgressive, if you can measure transgression, as when perhaps they played games that had some aspect of danger, or that imposed to a greater extent on the location of its occurrence. So Lotti Child’s activities happen in the street, but are more transgressive when thy happen in a private space such as a station forecourt especially if they have no permission for this, so sliding along the floor of a train station can be seen as more transgressive than jumping up and down on a bridge trying to make it wobble? In my own work, that deals with Re-affordance, and the notion of collusion, I found that it was transgressive in some sense of the word, as in the undertakings of the playground, but less that the full on voluntary acts requires by Lefebvre. So here rather than thinking of the transgressive experience as either or, in my research i began to see it as Slider, as in sliders used by web sites, and the monitoring or audio, to show the rising and lowering of use, or the allows people to slide down the power of something, to adjust the volume. So this is different to a scale, with a definite measure, but allows the level of the activity to fluctuate, but also that those in the activity can control the level of transgression, so for instance in the work of Antigua and his “” the level of the current that is passed around the circle, can be increased or decreased, and in so doing the level of transgression of the experience is also affected, forma mild hysterical tingling to a more intimidating, and dangerous and effecting and painful stinging. So for instance I found for myself, that with work Swingball Shakespeare, I begin by doing it in locations that were removed from the public, So this is a slider, not a sliding scale, it is something that changes over the length of the experience, either though factors outside of the activity, or though the collusion and contrition of those undertaking the activity. So it is a metaphorical manner in which to examine the relationship of the people inside the activity. Stott writes of play as a metacommunicationary activity, and for myself this fits in with the idea of collusion. For instance if the group have decided on a way of acting, but then act differently to this, but have decide this together.
So for instance in the (M)ollie work which used the maypole, I originally set it up in side streets etc, to avoid impacting the environment too much, and I had arranged with the council that the activity would cause any problems etc. But as we progressed, as had been noted, we tried to find more audacious locations to try the work out, so the transgressive element, that the activity was outside of normal bounds, and allowed those within to act differently slowly crept up the slider, but we ourselves were raising the slider, to create a further depth and excitement to the experience. This was also egged on by people around us who reacted excitedly when we did turn up and quickly installed the maypole. Steadily the transgressive possibility of the activity was raised as we progressed to locations where the activity would cause the greatest disruption, have a momentarily tense footprint, but also that had the most disjunctive effect as against the very folk nature of a maypole, while in some manner reinforcing the quality of the maypole. I believe from my research and observations that we found this in the main car park behind the library space in the town centre of Newcastle. So here I felt it still had a marginal quality, as it was a disused space, but it was a main car park. Before this we had expanded the maypole crown and performed it in the isolated church yard, around a pillar, but here to activate the maypole we had to go across the lane where the cars entered. Mick who was one of the group with me, took great delight in this and it was his suggestion to go there. It was also the most unmaypole like structure we had come upon, as the space itself is a car park, but is also underneath a foot bridge that has very ugly industrial legs coming down, it was around these we attached the maypole. This did stop the traffic, so here we were moving the slider of transgression further up the track. It needed this to have an impact on such a space.
So in this manner, the transgression that occurs in games in public space, or in much art in public space, though influenced,and my own works too, by notions such as Lefebvre and Situationism need not reach the top of the slider, which would be voluntary act, to be seen as transgressive, rather the transgression is set at a particular point in relation to the activity. Some uses of transgression can be intense, can border on the creation of massive disturbance, and these can be political in nature, but also some transgression is smaller, more located. But also if looked at in relation to the idea of mechanics, the notion of Transgression, rather than an outcome of an activity, can be the mechanic of that work, and in artwork can be part of the form. So in a sense it is offering those in the experience the chance to transgress, and to set the strength of that transgression themselves.
So, in (M)ollie this can be in the location of the work,and the object used, and how much it affects those around. As I have noted, where approaching the library, my initial offer of a quieter spot around the corner, was rejected by the librarians in favour of the main column, which was most visible, in front of the library steps.
An example o the transgressive dial being raised, was once again when participating, Mick asked the other female participation during the test of the game artwork WordPlay if she minded if he stuck things on her body. This seemed to raise the tension around the activity, by bringing to the fore the chance that the sentences may be stuck on inappropriately. The activity of word play itself, has a reading on the transgressive slider, but that slider was raised by the conversation, and could be raised again depending on where the sentences are placed. When trying the activity at Newcastle college there with the students the text was placed on the inner thigh of one participant, which also then caused them to find and read it in the mirror in a vaguely obscene manner. This placing of the text on the inner thigh was repeated when undertaking the activity in the foyer of commercial house. It is an outcome of the experience rules,
In terms of instantaneous structures and seductive interfaces, an aspect of the draw for prospective participants around, is the chance to act differently, to transgress against how they act normally in such a space, and it could be a space that they are in regular, so the transgressive slider is pushed upwards as the activity goes more against the rules that normally pertain in that space.
So the slider can be lowered or pushed down by exterior forces, as well as by those in the experience. I found that when undertaking the maypole work, in Darlington, as part of the festival, the actual locations where the activity could occur was slowly limited as i walked around with the arts team of the council. They wished to use mostly scenic areas, and to showcase the festival in which it would occur. The spaces i would have chosen, for most disjunctive effect, was deemed as attractive and not the image of Darlington they wished to portray. So here the transgressive slider was pulled downwards.
So the idea of a transgressive slider, is responsive to both the internal play state of those in the experience, and the external contractions. How the activity response to the external parameters, is partly how high the transgressive slider is raised. This can also be seen in light of collusion, as to how transgressive, or how those in the activity, make it seem the endeavour is. So for instance with the library staff wanting to partake outside of their building, I saw that partly as a comment on their workspace but also they played up and out of hose around. When the fully extended the ribbons, it cut into the passing footfall making those around adjust their path. What become a walk around the pole, developed into a dance, as those in the activity jeered others along, it also at time when fully stretch meant that the participants would step in and out of the cycle lane. I felt as though the library staff were excited to possess the environment around the activity. It also felt slightly transgressive, that they had left the building, during the working day, as before when I had approached the library about maybe working with their stuff at times, it was pointed out to me that they had their set duties, and their was no time to spare.
I felt in my research I was beginning to see a correlation between the transgressive slider and its various fluctuating levels, and the form of the artwork, that emerges from the activity. I at times have written about the disjunctive aesthetic, being the form of the artwork, that comes from the undertaking not fitting into the space where it is occurring, or working against the nature of that space. I started to see in the work, and the behaviour of those in the work, that there could be a correlation between the slider level of the transgression, and the impact of the disjunctive aesthetic, that the disjunctive aesthetic can be a direct result of the slider level of the transgression exhibited by the activity.
In the music work Pivot, the most successful test of it, formally as an artwork i found was when we undertook it in the underground car part area of Commercial House. This was a test only with invited participants, but the numbers including musicians was into double figures, so it had a good set of participants. I managed to also test this work in public with passer-byes etc, when I undertook it for a day in Grainger market. I felt the undertaking in Grainger market was unsatisfactory, with little impact, but found the test in the underground car park, was more interesting and visually more impactful. On further reflection and review, I began to see that he level of transgression was perhaps higher in the car park. This seems counter intuitive, as in the market, we were in public space, with large crowds of people around us, but I had arranged it all beforehand, and in some manner if felt sanctioned. At no time did the actions in the activity in the market, really reach out beyond the play activity to the surroundings. This may be because this game artwork was devoid of any form of re-affordance, did not connect with the fabric of the environment. Though I found in the garage, though it suffered from the same lack of physical re-affordance, because the garage was a deserted space, with only cars, and a very plain-looking industrial setting, it seemed to bring the activity to the fore. Perhaps also it felt like the activity was most disjunctive here, that it was most wrong and against the environment. So the idea of transgression in relation to the research artworks, does not reside as I though in my own artwork before this necessarily in the population of the space, but more how the space works against the occurrence. Pivot seemed to have a greater level of transgression in the car park space, and this was a raising of the slider of transgression, form my first set of test in a studio space in commercial house. But further to this, the work Pivot I felt contained a number of transgressions, making the players of instruments move and play, goes against how music normally operates, so this is a further push of the slider, the stopping and starting of the music, a further push against harmony, and the separation of parts, that operate at different speeds, a further push of the slider, as it transgressed the way that music is normally played, making live players stop and start in relation to the participants with the score, a scored that moved, rather than was still and always responsive. I found that as we progressed in the undertaking the players moved quicker, once in the garage space they practically spirited while playing, There was I felt a sense of unfairness in the garage space, it felt at anytime someone may come in and ask us tos top, it felt more transgressive as it felt like it should really be occurring there, unlike in the market, where it didn’t seem out-of-place, perhaps swallowed up into the whole cacophony of the market environment. There is perhaps a transgressive element in taking classical music, and using it in this manner, that goes against how it is normally received.
Much as Callios in Man and Play in his writings on Padia and the Ludic, with the two states at opposing ends, Padia activities often bring rules into the play space, in order to make the activity more exciting. This may also be true of the transgressive nature of undertakings, which can begin with low levels of transgression that steadily are pushed upwards, as they penetrate more and more into public space, or the danger of the activity increases. With the strengthening of the disjunctive aesthetic perhaps connected to the rising of the transgressive slider, turned up for maximum interest and excitement for those in the undertaking, but mediated with the populace around and the control elements of the space, so it is not halted. So here too there are different factors of the transgression, some of my public tests concerned the use of a core group, who undertook the activities, and sometimes my public test was about recruiting members of the public around, on the day of the activity. So as an aid to recruitment into instantaneous structures, the movement of the transgressive slider, as evidenced I felt by the way that the library workers and also the office workers who created the maypole form a post box, is that the notion of transgression, against their everyday activity, can be a contributory factor to the seduction of the experience. But also that those in the undertaking, can though collusion make it seem for themselves that the transgressive element is heightened in order to create an experience that is exciting for those partaking. In some way, the notion of Swingball Shakespeare, had transgressive qualities, as when I approached Darlington council with this undertaking, they seemed nervous of how the ball on the rope could collide with passer-bye and while they were happy to accommodate the maypole idea, they felt that the swingball was perhaps too dangerous for them.
There is an entire history, of how to pronounce Shakespearean text, and its presumed high art credentials, that the undertaking of swingball transgress against. The notion of playing swingball in public space, and connecting it to the delivery of lines, is perhaps already moving the dial of the transgressive slider. Many of the participants who took part, would not normally say or perform text aloud, they are not actors, but passers-bye. So there is a transgressive quality I felt for them, that rose considerable based on how public the space was. Unlike Pivot,the music work, the transgressive slider rose, the more the environment around got busy. The art game, gave permission to people to at times, shout out aloud the words of the text, while playing a ball game in a very public space.
The intertwining of bodies, is often the marker of transgression in play, from the advocated kisses of kiss chase, to the threaded bodies of twister. Once again many of these transgressive activity are playground based, are street activities such as skateboarding. In some manner then when putting together the wordplay experience, activity artwork games, I had in mind that the attached of the text, had transgressive qualities.
The notion of micro utopias, and actions, can be seen shaving little political relevance. While the artwork try to combat or work with or against the notion of the everyday, using gaming principles to break how the day unfurled for many, it can be seen that this is a small transgression,that can raise in scale. At the opposing end of the transgressive slider are large riotous acts, or deeply political activities that fulfil many of the ideas of Lefebvre et al. This is not incumbent on the art games I make, though they are an endeavour to effect public space. In some manner this slider construct, allows the works to be seen as partly affecting space, as having a form of transgression on their own terms as artworks first, with gameful activities, but that those in the activity can use their own ends in terms of changing their relationship to public space.
This is seeing transgression in terms of public encounters, etiquette and rules of public and private space. Can transgression also be part of the individual’s own makeup, part of the Challenge of a Ludic encounter, with the art games I am developing. For example I found in the undertaking of Swingball Shakespeare, that one of the aspects of it was to encourage spoken word. This is an aspect in games that is often downplayed, but has an importance in play activities rooted in folkloric custom. Speaking aloud, or saying text aloud is something that many people find hard. With swingball shakespeare, the structure encouraged players to say the text aloud, this could be seen as moving the slider upwards for participants, who would not normally speak aloud in public space. In some sense this is an additional challenge of the activity, but also a transgression of people of their own private ideas of how they should behave in public. So transgresion can also be an internal sel policing of how people behave in public space. So as much setting up a work in public space, the Swingball activity, encouraged those to come over who are perhaps already outgoing,such as the circus performers, it also encouraged those to partake. So in the work Swingball Shakespeare, the transgressive element, is a challenge, of even a self-imposed obstacle, as in the notion of Suits and his game definition. In this manner perhaps games can be a tool to allow greater self-expression. If I go back and see this in light of incorporation, as Calleijo sees it, that you are in the game but visible. This transgressive state is an outcome of being immersed in the game activity, but feeling comfortable to act out, so semi immersed. But more, i did find i felt in Swingball Shakespeare and in the maypoles are everywhere work, that for some thy increased the level of transgression by breaking their own self imposition on how to behave in public. One participant thanked me, after playing a solo game of Swingball shakespeare outside the Laing art gallery in the town centre, and said he never thought he would ever get to say text aloud in such a manner. So transgression can fluctuate through an experience, as shown by the slider, with many factors affecting it’s responses and levels, with either those in the experience increasing it, against external forces, or against their own interanlised limits.
research 