“Equal Opportunity to be a Dictator” is a social practice artwork where people intuit each other's voice directly. It’s an invitation for people to ventriloquise each-other. Anyone can offer others something to say (feed them a line), and anyone can also speak what others offer them to say (say the line they are fed) as conversation. Everyone can say the lines they are given in their own way. People have agency in saying their lines, they can edit, refuse, embody however they wish. It’s a fluid switching game of director/actor, parent/child, language teacher/language learner, agent/shadower, predictive coding of others and the self.

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The audience in the pavillion are invited to speak this way with each-other inside and outside the pavilion. 

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“Equal Opportunity to Be a Dictator” immediately speaks to issues of authoritarianism, empathy and predictive coding. It asks the audience to challenge themselves, to find how they share power, empathise, ventriloquise each- other in simple day to day conversations and the it asks them to physically actively share voices. It asks them to shift their way of talking/thinking and try to walk in another person’s shoes, or understand what their contribution is to another voice, how the subtextual negotiation of projections happens within a conversation. We fight for our voice our whole lives, we share and fight for the voice of others too and find ways to move in an echo chamber. This also comes into the principals of activism, how can we use our voice to fight for those who cannot speak for themselves. Who has the right to? It also gives people the option to speak other languages they don’t speak, anyone can repeat phrases of unknown languages. To learn a language involves this kind of repetition. This method of mimicry is part of how we learn to speak. We already know how to do this, this is how we have already been taught to speak - we are going back to scratch. There are many ways this can play out internationally as people are work in strange ways to discover one another within it. 

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Since there is no "performer vs participant" and people pick it up at their own speed, space and with others who are on the same level, all participants/audience etc... this creates a more equal platform to engage and respects the participant's need to do or not do something as they feel in their time. 

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INDUCTION: As you enter the Pavilion, there is a short induction video, demonstrating how the audience can speak in the “Equal Opportunity” mode.

 

HOME MOVIES: Several videos showing people speaking this way in a variety of settings – over a family lunch, a romantic quarrel, a funeral, a protest, an art gallery, a BDSM club, a press conference, in a classroom and on a bushwalk – will be presented in the gallery space with a diverse group of non-actors, each video depicts a real scenario in which the people are simply asked to speak in this mode while the camera rolls. The film style will appear lo-fi with the intimacy and warmth of a ‘home movie’. For those choosing to wear the pendent, these videos will help them to better understand how to use this way of speaking to try with others. For those preferring not to participate, these videos will enable them to passively observe this mode of speaking in and for itself.

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PENDENT OFFERED: You will be asked if you want a pendent to take home. The function of the pendent is spoken about in the induction. By wearing this pendent in public, you understand that you are indicating an openness to speaking in “Equal Opportunity” mode with people. You can reveal and hide the pendent in your clothes/bag as you feel comfortable in speaking in "Equal Opportunity" way. The pendent comes with instructions in a variety of languages. There are a number of ways to engage with this work in Venice and elsewhere. 

 

CONVERSATION TESTING SPACE: The audience can wander into the Pavilion and try the “Equal Opportunity” mode of speaking. In a larger group situation, people can not only tell each-other what to say but one person can tell an entire group what to say, or direct one person to say something to another person as a kind of middle manager. Performers will be planted in and around the Pavilion to ensure this mode of speaking is maintained. Multilingual Mediators will also wear badges that let people know they can assist with this mode of speaking.

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Production


Pendants with silver chain necklace: To ensure audience participation, blood red glass pendants will be bought in bulk at approx 1c (In EURO) per pendent and from manufacturers in the Czech Republic https://www.czechglassbeads.com/en=6x9mm#o_16191 

These prices are achievable, affordable, tax inclusive and shipped within EU for greater ease with freight. The pendant (necklace) the audience can wear, is a key, an invite giving voice away, power away, an exchange, a mutual sacrifice, an offering – drop of blood. It’s a wearable door into secret communication amongst those in the know. The pendant will be glass and deep red on a silver stainless steel chain. The pendant looks like a drop of blood. Gls is a Venice material, affordable, more class neutral and gender neutral for wider appeal. Being red glass it can be seen from a distance in a crowd. Symbolically it’s impartial enough to suit a variety of garments. The work of wearing this pendant shows an openness to others borrowing your voice. 

 

Plant Performers:Many performers, disguised as audience members, will wander through the Pavilion, Guardini, the vaporettos, the Arsenale, opening parties and dinners nearby. They will infiltrate and start conversations with pendent wearing people in the “Equal Opportunity” way. This work is contagious, the more people are seen to do it, the more people feel comfortable to do it. It’s important that in the opening week, many people are seen to do it to live, the extra performers will ensure this way of speaking is seen to be happening, encouraging others and providing a safety net. Some of these Plant Performers could be Venice locals if the travel and accommodation budget cannot accommodate Australian performers. Considering the Venice environment, multilingual performers are preferred. After the opening week, a few performers will be placed in and around the city to keep the conversational momentum going. 

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Filming will be overseen by Ka-Yin Kwok at Blue Post Studios, Melbourne. The example videos will be with non-actors, filming 2 hours of conversation

between certain groups and choosing the best 5 - 10 minutes from these conversations to exhibit.

 

 

Participation

The life of the work expands in relation to the level of participation chosen by the individual: how long they want to try speaking this way, with who, and where. Even if not speaking this way, by wearing the pendent there is a strange tension in the air, as people wonder if they should or shouldn’t approach each-other potentially to give/take a voice, and shows a secret conversational society, it is an invitation to connect with strangers and known people. In the pavillion with 2019 attendances at around 1000 per day throughout the six month period, with an estimated 3000 per day in the opening week and plant performer wearing these pendants in and around Venice. By allowing the work to play out in its own space and time through the pendent wearing, this is also a practical strategy to accommodate the heavy traffic flow at the Biennale and leverage the migration of the international audience. 

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As people tell each-other what to say, they can also tell each-other to do things e.g. “Say, I’ll grab you a drink” and then the person says “I’ll grab

you a drink” and walks over to physically grab the person a drink… they may also choose to resist such an action. People are directing each-other, scripting people around them, the suggestion of more physical action can happen too.

 

Timewise, this work allows people the time and space to explore when people appear in the necklace. I remember in Venice 2017, the Tracy Moffat bag from the Australian Pavillion, I could see about 100 people around venice wearing it (and this was given mainly to  VIP crowd opening week) then in Berlin 2 months later I saw 5 people wearing the same bag, in New York, 5 months later I saw a few wearing it, then two years later in a grocery shop in Australia, I saw the bag again... This bag was available to not many people, just imagine the pendant in this situation, not only how many people you could find wearing it in Venice, but later in other countries potentially months or years later, you may find a moment again to meet to a stranger, exchange voices in this way, or maybe pull out the pendant in a conflict with a partner years later, asking them to say the truth... etc. 

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Naturally, there's no expectation for everyone to participate. This has been designed to work for everyone - passive and active participants and everything in-between, accommodating all at any level of engagement. Passive audiences may eavsdrop on live conversations between others speaking this way, they can also watch videos and know what the pendant means and active participants can meet new people and connect with people they already know in a different way. 

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