Last week, a group of Master of Visual Studies (MVS) students brought history back to life when they re-enacted a panel discussion from 1987. The original panel, which included Professor Lisa Steele, was convened by The Power Plant in association with the opening exhibition that launched the gallery in May 1987.

Fast-forward to Steele's graduate seminar in Contemporary Art Issues. The second-year Curatorial and Studio MVS students were focusing on different genres of writing and were discussing the possibility of performing a reading or other "live" manifestation.

One student, Emilie Chhangur, mentioned the transcript of the original panel discussion from 1987 and the class explored the possibility of performing a re-enactment. Their decision was based on the idea that this discussion remains relevant in the present, not just in terms of The Power Plant, but in terms of the overall relationship between the art community and various institutions.

"Re-enactment" is a very current practice within contemporary art," says Steele. "There are many other examples from the past decade that would include re-enactments of political or social events — an iconic one is Jeremy Deller’s The Battle of Orgreave which re-enacted the Miner’s Strike in the UK in the actual place where it took place in 1984."