A Social Service

Nicola Gunn and David Woods' new work exploring social engagement in art — with particular regard to commissioned art in public spaces, the social and political significance of art, and what gives art its 'meaningful' or 'shit' status — asks some Big Questions, making us laugh as much as think. 

Gunn plays an artist who is commissioned to create a site-specific artwork in a public housing estate. It's a satire of your typical privileged, exploitative artist type (let's live in a lower socio-economic environment and call it performance art!). She candidly converses with one of the estate's local artists (played by Uprising Theatre's Shaan Juma) about how she wants her art to help their community (she earnestly aims to "overcome poverty" and improve their "culturally poor" lives) while a few other characters played by Woods — mainly the estate's gruff president of the residents' committee and the hilariously eccentric Creative Neighbourhoods project leader — pop in and out.

Inspired by real-world case studies whereby art is used as a tool for eviction, and fleshed out with the help of the experiences of real people affected by gentrification of this sort, A Social Service asks us to challenge our perception of art and who it serves, as all of Gunn's intensely meta, self-aware/analytical/critical work tends to do.