Pierre Sernat’s Guerilla Tea Performance Art

Five different people send me articles about Pierre Sernat and his Guerilla Tea Performance Art with links to his YouTube videos. Thank you. It’s right up my alley. Perfect for my ongoing blog conversations on the Art & Spirit of Tea. But I’ve kept it on hold because something about it disturbs me. It generates some issues. All the better in the blogasphere, so I’m told. So, before I say more, please take about 4 minutes to watch and then we will continue.

If you don’t have 4 minutes or a fast enough connection to watch YouTube videos, I’ll summarize. Pierre Sernat has created a portable Japanese-style tea room. He transports it to unusual and unexpected public places where he serves tea to.

These experiences were photographed and were displayed at the 2nd Annual Asian Contemporary Art Show in New York City last November 2008.

Several things about the performance piece that disturbed me - until last week.

I knew I was supposed to appreciate that tea’s core messages - harmony, purity, respect and tranquility - are being shared. I want more people to experince tea. To taste new teas. To share the widely diverse cultural traditions tea has inspired around the world.

I knew I was supposed to be impressed but the voice of my internal critic went into judgmental mode. I reacted to the video as if something sacred had been used as a publicity stunt. But who am I to say that?

The Nature of Criticism

Maybe the time spent in the academic and professional world of art makes me feel that privilege and responsibility. The way in which we learn is to question and criticize. It’s impossible not to bruise sensibilities and find not uncommon to find yourself falling face first into your own emotional debris.

As I’ve said before, it was my art experiences that introduced me to tea. Specifically, the intimacy of the teapot and the integration of narrative and function. Where the sculptural experience sometimes trips over performance art is that we become heavily invested in permanence - making an item that will stand the test of time and hold value for generations. The performance artist is invested in creating a relationship with his audience - in the moment and in memory.

It’s similar to the dichotomy in a life of tea. We celebrate the different cultural ceremonies of tea and collect the equipment but the experience of each cup shared between host and guest is ephemeral.

Tea Ceremony At The World Tea Expo

One of the special events at WTE was “Modern Teaism“. There were several seatings for Tea Ceremony served by Sen So’Oku, the next grand tea master of the Mushakoji-Senke Tea School, and a direct descendant of Sen no Rikyū, founder of the Way of Tea.

It was an honor to be one of the participants. I imagined a very quiet tearoom set in the corner of the trade show. But the Special Events stage was quite bare. Just a simple table in an unusual U-shape. With stools. No tatami mats.

In front of the stage were chairs. A large audience. Within the seated audience were reporters with notepads and photographers with cameras. Cameras with huge lenses. Beyond the seated audience were as many more people standing. Watching.

Tranquility? Not so much. It’s not easy to feel relaxed in front of so many people.

Our hosts began explaining the elements of tea ceremony. The setting. The utensils. The scroll. The rare and unique tea bowls. The matcha. The natsume - the handmade, lidded container for the matcha. We were especially honored to have the artist who made the container present in the audience to explain how he made the exquisite piece.

And somewhere in the experience, embedded in the details and the intention was tranquility.

There was also the connection between my judgmental nature of Pierre Sernat’s Guerilla Tea.

My Conclusions

One thing I love about the Spirit of Tea is the sense of humor. Life lessons can be so entertaining - especially when I am finally able to laugh at my own limitations and become free of them.

The Spirit of Tea is ancient. It has survived wars and economic crises. It has restored the entire agricultural economy of come countries and has been the symbol for political unrest. We humans have created some ridiculous ways to be in conflict with each other over tea - but we have not yet destroyed the foundations on which a life in tea is build. Tea, the leaf and Tea the spirit of the leaf continue in spite of us and our best and worst attempts to commercialize it. To pitch it. To sell it.

Even in the middle of a trade show floor filled with several thousand people - on the main street of Sin City - there can be tranquility. Isn’t that amazing? Whether the teapot is English bone china or a glass and steel French Press. Tea can even survive tiny plastic sample cups and white styro.

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PS: I was also mistaken when I said in my previous blog that I didn’t need to take my electric hot pot and infuser cups to make tea in my room. There is nothing worse than having some of the finest teas in the world on hand and no good way to heat water.

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