I just had the experience of witnessing the Melbourne Flashmob, which was not-so-secretly held at Bourke St Mall this morning at 11am.
Firstly, I feel it necessary to say that it was an impressive dance performance, especially subscribing to that kind of grass-roots community arts ethos that allows anybody to come aboard and join in on a large-scale choreographed dance routine in a public performance. I would encourage those who were involved to continue to pursue performing in similar artistic ventures in the community. It was fun, diverse, and embodied community spirit. Well done.
HOWEVER
When one thinks of a flashmob, one thinks of performance art as civil disobedience albeit apolitical. One thinks of performance art that challenges social norms of acceptable public behaviour. What's more, it's coordinated by "the people", and not endorsed by government organisations. It's spread through word of mouth, or through obscure online channels. It's seemingly spontaneous, with the majority of audience members being unsuspecting "innocent" bystanders, and should disappear as suddenly as it appeared, as though nothing had just happened, leaving an air of WTF? in its wake. I'm talking hundreds of people freezing on the spot in Antwerp Station. Or dozens of extra customer service assistants appearing in a homewares store and assisting customers with their choices. Or something as simple as 70 people appearing at Flinders St Station during peak hour pedestrian traffic, producing yellow rubber gloves, and pointing at the sky.
This is not a flashmob:
- Close to a thousand people crowded into Bourke St Mall - at least a quarter of whom had cameras at the ready. Not exactly your 11am crowd in the city.
- Official-looking tram people walking around with walky-talkies, getting ready to stop trams for the event.
- Hundreds of people rushing into a confined - and what looked like a very organised and set-out performance area.
- An audience of hundreds of people who seemed to know what was about to happen.
- And finally, the icing on the cake - an announcement over the PA, to the tune of "YOU HAVE JUST BEEN WATCHING THE OFFICIAL MELBOURNE FLASHMOB DANCERS, BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE CITY OF MELBOURNE AS PART OF THE SUMMER OF FUN PROGRAM. YOU TOO CAN LEARN TO DANCE LIKE THIS - GO TO WWW.blahblahblah... etc.
And, again, I hate to curb the enthusiasm of those who performed. As a well-produced large-scale public performance, it really was a wonderful. The only thing that really REALLY upset me was that it called itself a flashmob. FLASHMOBS AREN'T COORDINATED BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. FULL STOP. Perhaps I'm being too precious, having been involved in one in the past. Perhaps it's my dismay at witnessing a self-proclaimed flashmob that's devoid of artistic subversiveness or civil disobedience.
What upsets me the most? The thought of all the council bureacracy involved in staging this event. All the red tape, rubber stamps and authorisations needed, and presumably getting permission from the state government to delay public transport traffic. Anybody who's worked in government agencies can imagine the number of meetings and proposals that went into organising this "flashmob". And you can bet that one of the conditions for the performance was to have a very official and commercial announcement at the end, incorporating the council's branding... I almost expected an acknowledgement of corporate sponsors.
It just doesn't seem right.
