It is fortunately rare that I find myself ending an email with words such as these:

“... For these reasons you will no longer be given access to any of my future events.”

 

I know many artists, especially those working within the Performing Arts and music industry have experienced people’s unsolicited filming of their events and subsequent posting of the footage on social media. I however have not heard of an artist experiencing what I encountered this weekend with my ‘Art Research Lab With Kat For Women - Oslo’.

 

I invite openly to my research labs, welcoming any women wishing to join into my space. My labs are a free space. I invite rather than instruct. The only ask I have is that people do not photograph/film during the labs or take their phones out while we are in flow.

 

No filming / photographing is not just an ask. It is a hard boundary I make clear upfront.

 

These labs are part of my art practice, I share methods that I have spent years developing. Photographing and filming also disrupts the energy in the room and negatively affects the experience and enjoyment for everyone involved. While these reasons are valid and important in themselves, my boundary is hard to safeguard the privacy of my participants. This is a fundamental principle I do not compromise on.

 

Safety is also a concern. I became increasingly aware during the years I worked with refugees how transgressions of my no filming / photographing boundary can risk jeopardising people’s safety and freedom. You never know what people may be having to protect themselves from.

 

So, what to do when a participant blatantly disregards the no filming rule - and my subsequent ask that the private videos taken during my lab on Saturday be deleted from their phone - and instead posts them to their Facebook page?

 

And how do you firmly address the transgression during the lab without further exasperating the depletion of the energy from the room while simultaneously restoring the space?

 

Two situations I found myself in this weekend. I have of course been here before (which ironically, I see is the name of the first track I played during the lab). I work with people and energies. I observe and can recognize patterns of behavior in people and – through my art – I study how behaviors affect our energy, and how energies influence our behaviors. I am well versed in dealing with and responding to situations involving people.

 

Though it does bring back a question I frequently ask myself – As an artist how do I safeguard the integrity of my space? – and how do I protecting myself and those I invite into my space from people who will disrespect it, disregard my boundaries, drain the energy from the room and violate the privacy of all those attending?

 

The answer of course is I cannot. Inviting people into my space, means I am inviting people into a space that comes from the core being of who I am. Ultimately my labs are a space rooted in trust.

 

Any change in my way of being – who I am or how I invite - will shrink my energy and result in my labs starting from a place of mistrust.

 

I am of course saddened that some of my lab participents have been badly affected by the behavior of the one, while also deeply moved by the sheer number of supportive messanges I have received from many of the women present in the aftermath of the lab. 

 

“I'm so grateful you are you. So clear, so honest and so professional. It is seldom I come across people who have all those qualities in place when it really matters. And the way you care for all of us and especially those who experienced this as difficult one way or another” (Lab participant)

 

These labs form part of my current inquiry into feminine energy and the female psyche. I have been fortunate in my previous labs as the energy in them has been the one I love the most – flowing, dynamic, uplifting. I’ll be honest, my heart sank a little when the person in question entered the room as I immediately recognised she has a provocative energy about her. I am of course concerned that those women who have been shaken by her behavior may now be discouraged from joining future labs. Well, I was a little anxious until I received this

 

“…To be honest it's so strong the root of your project that it will not really be affected by this incident.”

 

A reminder that my art – my labs - come from my core. When I am genuine and act with integrity from my core, I am responding from a space that is absolute – from the very essence of who I am as a being.