observations of audiences

update: I haven’t seen it with any audience, but this might be a contender

I’ve been thinking about 2 different shows I saw last weekend.

Different shows; different settings; and completely different ways that people were engaging with the work.

I went to the preview of The 18th Storey: 10 artists installed on the 18th floor of a soon-to-be-demolished tower block.

The 18th Storey

I really liked the idea (‘though I wonder how it compared to similar enterprises) and I loved the poster-sized, blue-print styled exhibition info, but somehow it was really difficult to engage with the work.

I think part of the problem was that the large, poster-sized, blue-print styled exhibition info was a bit to unweildy to refer to at the time so I didn’t really get much of a feel for what the work was supposed to be about (there was little or no information accompanying the work itself).

It was cold, it was busy, we just sort of scooted ’round.

By way of a contrast, the next day I was envigilating VASULKA LAB 1969 – 2005 at Vivid.

Also a cold space but…

vasulka installation view

…people we coming in (often for a second time, to finish up on what they missed at the preview), plugging themselves into the headphones and standing in front of the video screens for about 45-90 minutes at a time.

Wow. That’s some level of engagement for video peices in a gallery setting.