taking part in “from scratch” at derby theatre gives me an opportunity to ask a question of the audience. i’m showing liminal tic tac toe and i’m not sure what question to ask.
showing the work to a friend i might ask nothing as i’m interested to hear their words about their experience.
the most common question i get about these interactive works is “how does it work?” i’m never sure how to answer that one, partly because when showing i see it much more about being in the moment than about the process that got me to that point.
i’m keen the work is seen for what it is and by this i mean contextually how it affects the viewer.
if it’s only seen for what it is then am i proposing the audience views a painting as canvas, wood and paint.
by adopting the “what it is” stance i am in effect challenging the viewer to go beyond the question of “how does this work” and try to get to “how does this connect with me?”
so in beginning to analyse what question to ask, i see lots of questions immediatley bubbling to the surface.
however i am still left with the question of what to ask?
do i need to ask a question? the scratch night will take place in the studio of the theatre. i’m aware that my piece doesn’t have a script… at least not a formal one. the piece shows itself to the audience in a familiar form which will allow for a spontaneous narrative to be played out. upon this initial exchange having a favourable outcome we’ll progress into another level of spontaneous narrative. the narratives are visual and quite possibly verbal.
the narrative might be considered a metaphor for the beginning of a liason between two interested individuals. from the tentative beginning where does the relationship potentially progress to?
see i’m asking more questions, but which single question to ask ?
this work began as a vague conversation in june 2013 at the drop inn in belper. a space was available at the free fall festival in september 2013 and this is where the work was first shown.
the from scratch night provides another site specific version of the work inviting members of the audience to get involved by downloading an app from the itunes app store and joining in with the evolving narrative of the work. having played with it, i think the question that i need to ask is, “if you can ask just one question about the work, what question would that be?” is that rather lame for a question? more information can be found on the homepage