Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University for the Creative Arts
Jungle Fever, participatory performances, installation, publication, map, posters
This project developed from the premise that the global economy and media have transformed the world and its inhabitants into tourist attractions – so it sets out to reclaim not tourism, but everyday life. Jungle Fever explores the poetics and politics of the everyday, using the body and mind as tools: it offers a 42-page user guide in three languages, with a map and three accompanying posters, proposing destinations, activities and excursions for 8-hour and 24-hour journeys. The instructions can be followed literally, metaphorically or poetically, and the accompanying map can refer equally to the body, the mind or the environment as potential sites of exploration.
The project consists of a series of participatory events where the Jungle Fever guide is activated by a group of willing participants who in the process become performers of the work. The gallery space is used as a departure lounge and a base where food and refreshments are provided. The project evolves in response to what participants contribute along the way: their strategies and insights filter through into future manifestations or editions of the posters and the user guide. The three posters are remade in situ at each event by being re-photographed, and subsequently participants’ words are added as captions/headlines. Like a palimpsest, traces of earlier versions remain visible.
In the posters and the user guide the translations into English, French and German coexist on the page, competing and resonating with each other and allowing the reader to navigate between languages or learn new ones. The translations are not entirely literal, and create an interplay of cultural differences.
In Jungle Fever the participant is both producer and consumer of the work: the project aims to question notions of audience and authorship, and to challenge conventional perceptions of labour, leisure and creativity.
