Two artists, two hairdressers and two friends: writer Pip Adam gives new Urban Dream Brokerage manager Jason Muir a haircut, teasing out in conversation the relationship between Muir’s new property brokering work and the hairdressing business.
Lots of people have cut Jason Muir’s hair before me and it’s not usually in a salon.
“Do you know who gave me the worst haircut,” he says after I tell him I’m a bit nervous.
“Worst until now?” I suggest, fastening a cape around his neck, and we both laugh.
“No. It was (artist) Regan Gentry. We were filming a Political Cuts at his sculpture on Karo Drive, and I’d finished cutting his hair but we wanted to keep talking, so I said to him, “Do you want to cut my hair?” And he got the clippers and just shaved down the middle of my head.” Reverse mohawk.
Pip Adam cutting hair as part of Jason Muir’s art lproject.
The first time I was part of Political Cuts as a hairdresser - Jason’s art project that swaps political conversations for free haircuts - I looked over at one stage and not one but two Mayoral candidates were cutting Jason’s hair. One on either side of his head. Neither of them, hairdressers.
At the moment Jason’s hair is long, it’s way past his shoulders and the last time he cut my hair he was wearing a sun visor to keep his fringe out of his eyes. This is the first time I’ve cut Jason’s hair.
We’re looking at two photos for reference, one of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and one of Ron Burgundy from Anchorman. “I’m going to do an old-school blow wave and slick-back for the show,” explains Jason. The Builders’ Fringe starts on the 3rd of March. It’s pure Jason, he’s transforming a central Wellington building into a cross between a sports arena and a theatre, with live commentary on what's happening on site. “Short,” Jason says. “Not too short, but I’m kind of over my long hair.”
We walk over to the basin and I wash Jase’s hair. While I’m drying off his hair with a towel, I admit I’m still a bit confused about the changes that have happened at vacant space brokerage Urban Dream Brokerage since it relaunched in December.
“Well, I basically run the Urban Dream Brokerage now,” he says. “But, in saying that it’s a very open source organisation and it comes with a lot of IP and history.” I’m sectioning up Jason’s hair (it’s even longer now that it’s wet) and he explains the way the UBD fits into Letting Space and the Wellington Independent Arts Trust. Letting Space have handed the production on to Jason’s Maverick Creative but are still involved. I’ve slipped a little bit into the patter of hairdresser ‘Oh,’ and ‘Right.’ Jason better than anyone, realises the special kind of listening hairdressers do during a haircut. I’m concentrating on two things at once but the haircut doesn’t distract me from what Jason’s saying, instead it sort of leaves me free to listen without feeling like I need to reply. I’m cutting Jason’s hair and that’s kind of the reply.
“So I run it,” Jason says. “With excellent mentoring from Mark (Amery)and Sophie (Jerram).” He then goes on to name all the other people that support the work. “It wasn’t until I moved into the role that I saw how much this was the product of other people’s work and I feel a responsibility ensuring that legacy carries on.”
The salon isn’t busy today, we came in when most of the hairdressers have their day off, but the music is on and the phone rings quite a lot; there are hairdryers going. Jason and I have talked a lot over the last while about the change from a salon to his new role.
“I feel like I kind of went from zero to hero,” Jason jokes.
As a hairdresser whose CV looked like I’m leading a parade, I really understand the transferability of skills I got while hairdressing.
“I think I’m quite a good oversight person,” Jason says as we talk about the transition to his new role. “I come to it from a completely unconventional angle. Not only have I been doing a completely different type of work. There's a commercial business side to hairdressing that I've always been involved in.”
I ask if this helps when talking to the business owners who lend their commercial spaces to UDB projects.
“I feel like I can talk to them, because I’ve held commercial leases before. I've been responsible for staff and wages. I understand business because I've done it. And essentially, I'm still doing it now. I understand the responsibilities and the stresses of having your name on a commercial lease. And that also brings some fresh eyes to dream brokerage because, you know, that hasn’t always been the expertise of previous people. So I bring a slightly different side on top of my love of promoting the arts.”
I’ve started cutting Jason’s hair. That first section is always a bit daunting. Hair does interesting, sometimes unpredictable things. I cut the first section too short, it snaps up when I let it go. I keep talking, the main thing is, the person getting their haircut doesn’t need to know. I take another section and cut it slightly longer and feel a bit relieved that it will probably be okay. By the end of the haircut I’ve cut it as short as the first section but at this point I’m a bit weary. I step back. Hairdressing is a lot about technique but I really think it’s also a lot about ‘eye’.
“Hairdressing is a bit about aesthetics, eh?” I say to Jason. I feel like there is such an interesting and tricky link between hairdressing and art.
“Basic form and design,” he says.
“Basic form and design,” I say.
“And colour theory.”
‘Yeah,’ I say and then I try to formulate a thought around moving from this kind of work to what I call, ‘art of the mind’ because I don’t fully feel confident saying conceptual art. “And art of the process,” I say.
“And participation,” Jason says. “I feel like that’s key to everything we do in UBD.”
Jason’s been reading through a thread that morning in a hairdressing forum - it might have been the same forum I scrolled through trying to find a video in how to cut hair so that it looks like Che Guervara’s. The thread Jason’s been reading was started by a hairdresser whose writing about the state of the hairdressing industry. It’s got Jason thinking.
“One of things I’ve been thinking about in my shift from hairdressing to UDB is that I feel like hairdressing has become more commercial and those rogue creative talents have become less prevalent in the industry. So, I think the hairdressing industry is not necessarily as connected to the art world as it once was. I think it’s still a very creative industry, it’s just that it’s gone more into its own world.”
Jason and I start reminiscing about a time when hairdressing was branching out and teaming up with its ‘artistic brothers and sisters’ as Jason puts it. We’re remembering club nights and fashion shows, rogue shows that worked with artists to create almost performance art, salons that included work from sculptures and visual artists.
It was during this time that Jason first saw the potential for hairdressing as art. Political Cuts has its origins in a project Jason developed called Cirque de Salon which included body painters, make-up artists and hairdressers, choosing people from an audience and transforming their hair into sculpture on stage. “This was the first time I’d done strict performance,” Jason says. “And it struck me how people are utterly fascinated by the creative process of a hairdresser constructing these looks. It was the first time of taking my creative craft, that I'd been doing at the back of shows, and making it available for people to watch and I realised how much people were fascinated by that”’
“I think it’s still too long,” I say to Jason. I’ve made the rookie mistake of not being brave enough and the haircut looks like it should in about three-weeks time. So, I start taking a bit more off.
Whenever I’m trying to explain UBD I use Political Cuts as an example of the types of projects they make possible. Jason and I talk about how well it fits into the kaupapa of UBD. “I’ve set up hairdressing chairs in some pretty odd spaces,” Jason says. “And I wonder sometimes, “Is this too weird? Will the conversation go off?” and always, without fail, you put a cape around someone and you start cutting their hair and they go into client mode.”
When I worked with him in Political Cuts we talked alot about not trying to convince anyone of anything. In hairdressing and retail I was taught the art of the open question and it really helped when I was doing Political Cuts.
The haircut is looking better now I’ve been a bit more confident with it. Jason looks really different but hopefully I’ve maintained something of the quality of Jason’s long-haired, visor-wearing self.
“As far as the commercial landscape,” I ask. “What do you think Wellington is going to be like in the next year or so?” I’ve been dreading asking. Yesterday David Jones announced it was closing its Lambton Quay store. It’s part of my role now to notice every vacant space in Wellington,” Jason says. ”There’s definitely a slow-down out there. But we’re coming out of a time where business has been good, commercial rents have been expensive and for any small practitioner that becomes a really difficult proposition. So unless you’re a big salon, for instance, you’re not going to survive on the main drag. So maybe, as a result of all this, if rents come down in a few years time it could help a lot of smaller businesses establish themselves a bit easier, maybe that’s the upside.”
“We’re not going to blow-dry this, eh?” I say, and we both laugh.
While I’ve been cutting Jason’s hair I’ve received an automated message reminding me of my haircut with him tomorrow, we’ll talk about sport and his show and the conversation will carry on because once you put a cape on me, I too slip into client mode.