Following the talk I gave at Rumpueng Artspace I was invited to give the same talk to a cohort of sculpture students at Chiang Mai University (for which I was paid a fee – ‘its policy’). Apparently the students are usually quite reserved so it was encouraging that they were engaged and asking questions. They were keen to know more about Girl Gang; what is it exactly? Did we ever fail?
Girl Gang is deliberately slippery; we are not all artists, the actions we do could be art or could be something else. Girl Gang means something slightly different to everyone involved – for me it is about supressing my inner ‘police officer’ to give myself permission to behave in ways that gently push against the boundaries of what is socially acceptable. By resisting categorisation we remain open; to new possibilities, new forms and new ways of thinking. On failing, I explained that failing was an essential part of succeeding. Failing shapes understanding and allows things to be taken forward in a more informed way.
The evening of the talk saw the first Girl Gang Chiang Mai action take place. At our meeting we talked about what Girl Gang Chiang Mai could be – something that had to be decided by those living here. The dare format we often adopt in the UK was inappropriate here and closed off the discussions so we decided to open things up by thinking of ways to simply occupy particular spaces differently. Basketball was suggested as a ‘male space’ on a particular court usually occupied by men only. This was to be a loud and ballsy introduction to GG; in costume. But when our plans to disrupt the basketball games were scuppered by the monsoon rain, Girl Gang found other ways to play; on a more locally accessible athletics track we ran rings around the athletes, forced the runners to play basketball and generally got in the way – all to a specially selected soundtrack. Girl Gang always triumphs in the face of adversity.
