Tag: live art

It’s the thought that counts

Portraiture isn’t my specialty so this was a challenge. The initial idea I’d had was a full head with a ‘functioning’ mind. I wanted to show the process of thinking; the information going in, around and coming out. This piece reflects my dyslexia, showing my slower processing and how what I’m thinking often comes out differently. The ‘information’ or marbles in this case are dropped into the ‘mind’ (the dish), here they circle until they ‘form’ and drop out the mouth. At the point where they ‘form’ and drop, the ‘thought’ or marble changes. Inside the piece is a mechanism that stops one marble until another hits it, swapping positions. This means, if there is already a white marble in it and you put a blue marble in, the white one would come out.

 

Untitled – 2017
‘It’s the thought that counts’ – 2017
‘It’s the thought that counts’ – 2017

A Performance by the Audience

As I researched the intriguing world of performance and live art I found it involves a lot of theory, psychology and philosophy. It gets pretty weird but that is the point a lot of the time. In this case I wanted to address what is socially acceptable to do in a gallery space by asking the audience to perform. The text I placed on the wall was as follows:

 

I know you’re probably wondering ‘Why am I reading this?’ but this is why… You’ve probably had a long day and are tired of walking around this gallery aimlessly looking at things. So why not lie down and relax. Take some deep breaths and just sink into the floor… If you’re still reading this then you probably don’t think the floor is very clean, because I’d already be on the floor if I were you. When are you going to have an excuse for lying on the floor? It’ll be good for you to stop, for a minute or two. I know you’re thinking about it… Come on, become the art and do it for me or at least do it for the sake of doing it. Just lie down. Don’t think about it and relax!

 

When presented to my peers they proceeded to all lie down. The result was slightly unexpected. In an exhibition I would leave pillows and not bother with the tape as this seems to be something that groups of people might be more like to do.