rabbit-proof fence

Rabbit Proof Fence …

The whole movie is a re-enactment of events which happened in the 1930s.

The stealing of "half-caste" Aboriginal children from their mothers,

to be taken to "homes" and brought up institutionally.

These particular children escaped the institution and walked all the way home,

several hundred miles north.

How might this filmic re-enactment relate to the re-enactment of key performance pieces from the 1960s?

How important is the re-enactment of a "performance"

(eg Carolee Schneeman's Meat Joy) when we might re-enact “real life events” instead?

Such as Jeremy Deller’s Battle of Orgreave from 1984, re-enacted in 2001.

Deller staged a full scale re-enactment of a historical union-police battle –

Other things to consider here – what is actually involved in the re-enactment, and for what purpose?

Is it an "experience" for the people involved?

Is it a pantomime performance to “bring to life” a piece of history?

In Rabbit Proof Fence, consider the real weeping of the women re-enacting the stealing of their children by white police.

(The DVD edition has a documentary which shows the development of these scenes).

They (the actors) were all devastated, channelling the grief of that history through their own bodies.

And: the general preparations of actors for a performance

(loosening exercises, character building games), how similar are these to fluxus activities/participations?

Play and body play. Allan Kaprow’s classes at Como for the Fondazione Ratti.-

The doco about the making of Rabbit Proof Fence makes the activities of film actors seem fascinating.

The preparations they go through.

Their lives must be very interesting lived processes.

Bilateral