spat+loogie (Kat Barron and Lara Thoms) are a Sydney(ish)-based duo who's performance work, PIE, is showing as part of Primavera 2009 at the MCA. In the work, members of the public are invited to sit down with an artist or curator over a piece of pie and enter into a dialogue about art . A "menu" of conversation pieces is provided which topics such as the Shaun Gladwell-referencing "Is skateboarding art if you slow it down?". At the end of the conversation the participant may then share the pie with the art professional or throw it in their face.
The work examines the dynamic between those working within the art world and the public. The curators and artists are put in a position in which they must explain themselves to a wider audience or risk a humiliating pie in the face. The onus is on them to prove themselves to the audience.
A friend of mine recently participated in the work as an artist and was disappointed that the member of the public asked to participate did not engage in the work at all. She didn't want to eat the pie or throw it, was worried about missing a bus, did not want to hear about the work or discuss art in general, and in the end the artist just asked her what her star sign was. He said she was not judgmental or dismissive, just not interested.
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