I am back in Finland and have just shown the videos below to Edwina. We discussed differences between British and Finnish tactility and touch, and how this would effect the outcome of such a performance. The British are far more willing to be close and tactile, so a Finn would probably respond to this kind of situation to a greater degree of discomfort.

Here are some videos of Monday's Intervention Performance.

They are rather low-tech and raw, filmed on my digital camera, but i feel that low-tech suits me well.

Becoming brave ... intervening conversations

INTERVENTION PERFORMANCE

I wanted to capture some of my thoughts following tonight's performance before i fell asleep and lost them.

At first i felt quite up-tight about it, and i wonder if advertising that i was doing a performance was really helping matters, because people came into the exhibition with expectation and anticipation, asking when the performance was going to happen. The performance was in fact happening throughout the exhibition, 5pm - 7pm, it was ongoing and very subtle, and i was not doing it the whole time due to the things that i was responding to.

When visitors looked at the art works or labels in the show, i walked through the space in between them and the work. Sometimes this was very subtle and practically unnoticed, mostly when people were standing at a fair distance from the work, or not really paying attention. It amused me that some people said "sorry" and stepped back as i intercepted their view, as if they were in my way. There was often this initial stepping back momentum as i cut through the space. On some occasions i felt that it was too subtle, so made an effort to intercept the same person's view several times in a short space of time and this made them more aware of what i was doing.

I most enjoyed it when visitors were standing very close to the work, and i almost had to breathe in to get through the gap, this felt really awkward but i like awkwardness. Sometimes i decided to linger in that space for a bit longer. It became laughable.

As time progressed i became more experimental and playful with my actions, also standing in the middle of conversations, uninvited, and walking around the same person several times, making them very aware that i was "targeting" them. I interrupted many people's personal space, and had conversations about this, and i think that we enjoyed the conversations quite a lot, debating what was acceptable or not, and where my space ends and yours begins.

As with all good private views, a number of us progressed onto the pub to discuss things further; it could be that i now take this action of intercepting to many private views, uninvited and unannounced. The action is very ordinary, but when repeated many times in this magnified context it becomes extra-ordinary, i will think about developing these concerns. How does one "frame" a situation?

I have lots of energy now, or perhaps it is adrenalin, i want to make more work; quick, low-tech, playful, curious, provoking, ordinary, extra-ordinary.

Will put videos and images up soon.

Thanks to all who allowed me to interrupt them tonight.

Exhibition Text:

Utilitarian and low-tech methods are employed in the gallery context to heighten the viewers’ awareness of their body in relation to the art works being viewed, and the spaces in between.

Temporary chalk lines drafted on the floor suggest vantage points at which the exhibits can be viewed from, yet allude to the systems and regulations put in place to protect artefacts from the viewer becoming too close. Ambiguously drawn in the middle of the floor, these positions can be stood on, stood behind, or in front of.

Whilst viewing the work, one’s gaze towards the exhibits becomes interrupted as other visitors intercept the space in between oneself and the work displayed on the wall, floor or plinths. The brief moment as gaze and paths cross, avoid or meet heightens awareness of this transitory space.