Barbara Cleveland

Also known as Brown Council
Collective
  • Artist (Performance Artist),
  • Artist (Video Artist)
First called Brown Council, Barbara Cleveland is an Australian artist collective directed by Diana Baker Smith, Frances Barrett, Kate Blackmore, and Kelly Doley, working on Gadigal land (Sydney). The collective take their name from the mythic feminist performance artist who they recovered from the margins of Australian art history
Tags: Endurance, Feminist, Performance
Brown Council, History of Performance
creator of
The History of Performance
Date
Medium
live participatory performance
Tags
live, Performance, Participatory Art, brown council, ffA

Brown Council, The History of Performance, 2015, live participatory performance at The Physics Room Christchurch. Photo: Daegan Wells

 
creator of
Mass action: 137 Cakes in 90 Hours
Date
Medium
Performance, Baking
Tags
Endurance
URL
http://browncouncil.com/massaction/
 
creator of
Disappearing Act
Date
Medium
Video
URL
http://scanlines.net/node/4178
 
http://www.vimeo.com/29026452

Set against a stark black backdrop, the four members of Brown Council perform a literal act of disappearance …

 
creator of
Appearing Act
Date
Medium
Video
URL
http://scanlines.net/node/4179
 
http://www.vimeo.com/29132866

In Appearing Act the four members of Brown Council magically ‘appear’ out of thin air through simple, home-made trickery …

 
creator of
Work in Progress: Dawn to Dusk
Date
Medium
Video
URL
http://scanlines.net/node/4180
 
http://www.vimeo.com/29133654

In an endurance piece of performative group work, the four members of Brown Council take turns to hammer a wooden post into the ground with a mallet …

 
creator of
The One Hour Laugh
Date
Medium
1 channel HD video
URL
http://browncouncil.com/works/the-one-hour-laugh

The One Hour Laugh is a 60 minute video work that depicts Brown Council performing a routine of endurance laughter.

 
creator of
One Hour Laugh
Date
Medium
Video
URL
http://scanlines.net/node/4181
 
http://www.vimeo.com/29353310

One Hour Laugh depicts Brown Council enacting a routine of endurance laughter …

 
creator of
Big Show
Date
Medium
Video
URL
http://scanlines.net/node/4182
 
http://www.vimeo.com/29134674
 
creator of
What Do I Do? 1970-2009
Date
Medium
Video
URL
http://scanlines.net/node/891
 
http://www.vimeo.com/18811957

In What Do I Do? (1970-2009) Brown Council appropriate two seminal performance works by Vito Acconci from the 1970s …

 
creator of
Runaway
Date
Medium
Video
URL
http://scanlines.net/node/4183
 
http://www.vimeo.com/29133280

Videographer: William Mansfield Music Track: Runaway, Kevin Blechdom
In Runaway theatricality and the filmic converge in an emotive explosion of fake blood, fake sweat and fake tits …

 
creator of
Scrum
Date
Medium
Performance
URL
http://browncouncil.com/works/scrum#1
 
creator of
Milkshake
Date
Medium
Video
URL
http://scanlines.net/node/4184
 
http://www.vimeo.com/18813369

Videographer: William Mansfield Music Track: Milkshake, Kelis
In Milkshake, Brown Council perform a grotesque hip-hop dance sequence that pushes physical limitations …

 
creator of
Encore
Date
Medium
Video
URL
http://scanlines.net/node/890
 
http://www.vimeo.com/18813576

In Encore the theatrical tradition of the curtain call is reduced to a task-based endurance performance …