Stash The Suitcase Collective Manifesto:
As Stash The Suitcase Collective and individual artists we hereby commit to the manifesto outlining our approach to creating performance art…
[1] Remodern Manifesto (1999), Pg1.
2 Remodern Manifesto (1999), Pg2.
- We are young and innovative South African artists who believe in the power and potential of art to affect change in the world.
- We endeavour to create work that is relevant, challenging, provocative, entertaining and educational. Drawing on a theatrical fusion of performance art, physical theatre, dance, film and music, STSC creates art that is experiential and engages audiences on a multiplicity of levels: a symphony for the senses. Think, act, innovate - knowledge is only useful if it can be shared.
- No to hierarchy and structures of control when making art.
- We are ALL equal in every respect and should execute equal RESPONSIBILITY for the collective running of our art.
- No to the EGO and artists driven by the ego.We align ourselves with “spiritual depth and meaning and distance ourselves from this age of scientific materialism, nihilism and spiritual bankruptcy”.[1]
- INCLUSIVE rather than exclusive – we align ourselves with, “artists who endeavour to know themselves and find themselves through art processes that strive to connect and include, rather than alienate and exclude”.1 We strive to find ways to make our work inclusive and accessible to all no matter their social standing.
- The creative process is a cycle – a never ending process of reflection – we believe that a performance is always evolving, discovering new spaces and creating novel states of being in our complex world.
- Art is inevitably construed as political, even when it doesn’t intend to be. Our work deals with life – and most often, difference.
- As artists the content of our work is directed by our individual passions and visions – this applies both collectively and when collaborating with other artists and businesses.
- We explore a dialogue between structure and improvisation.
- We are all Africans and are working to create innovative performance art that explores and reflects on complex and dynamic post-apartheid South Africa.
- We commit to promoting and fostering artistic collaborations and developments with international artists.
- Practice makes perfect and we commit to being honest in a way that is professional so as to effect the quality control of works produced by us as artists.
- ART is EDUCATION and education EMPOWERS us to transform the way we see ourselves and our society. We work towards ways in which our art can educate and empower the youth.
- We commit to continually train and develop our skills as performers and artists. However, “It should be noted that technique is dictated by, and only necessary to the extent to which it is commensurate with, the vision of the artist”.2
- As individual artists – each with a unique vision, aesthetic and vocabulary – commit to a collective in which we are jointly developed, but severally expressed.
[1] Remodern Manifesto (1999), Pg1.
2 Remodern Manifesto (1999), Pg2.
