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Installation: The Sum of Hands
I'd discovered some years ago when my mission starting as far back as 1993 with a Bonne Biennale commission which dematerialised - was "to get the screen off the wall". That proposition was a room full of white goods which had projections on them or in them - a bed with an old man (a la Kubrick) a table with a dinner party, a sofa with a woman and a cat - all with projections on, a fridge, a washing machine, a tv - all with projections or screens inside...
And in that research and experimenting which turned out to be an early form of 'practice as research' that engaged an accompanying factor in getting the moving image into another relationship with the audience - so that they could touch modern art rather than 'Don't touch, step back" (said the security guard...) that actually people loved engaging with my work. and BTW there is a research issue behind this related to taking one sensory input where suspension of disbelief functions and adding a second stimulant that knocks you over the edge of belief (passed suspension) such that you become immersed in a way that enables you agency as a spectator and engaged person. So the Sum of hands was accomplished around 2008 as a set of images that I then added into "In Other People's Skins" which required 50 people's hands and arms to cover a table... Look to your right for several iterations. I;d discovered the power of touch though:Whoite Goods, In Other People's Skins, Water Table, The Dinner Party, Dance Floor, Un Tempo Una Volta and so on. So then I saw other artists imitating my behaviour and right now immersion is like a great sickness in culture that we have to row back on. The reason I say this is that at one exhibition of In Other People's SKins I founbd a woman stuck -such that when I talked to her she didn;t respond and I realised immersion was fascination and simply making the audience 'gawp' is no answer in creating art. So The Sum of Hands is an Artwork using digital media in an installation form that references the digitality of the human - literally our fingers. This is a multi-community work which then develops into a multi-national project. It has different iterations. THE INSTALLATION: SMALL SCALE EXHIBITION When exhibited, the small local installation consists of a table and 12 chairs for people to sit around the table - this is direct and intimate exhibition which will give the audience the chance to join in. A projector is suspended above the table with the image projected directly down on a white table cloth (the screen). The first pair of virtual hands enters the table space until eventually there are fifty pairs, then slowly they leave, leaving only one pair which rests a moment before fading away - then the installation loop begins again. What is being ‘healed’ in this larger scale version of the work is the neurosis that provokes a commodification of resources in the world. We no longer need to treat the world in this way so we must heal the original impetus in works like this and the activities they provoke with the public in their making. A major part of the artwork is the making, so that in itself should be an art event, the gathering together of fifty people with one concern, the realization of this piece. It is important to me that there are both local communities of one kind of person indigenous to the area and also the inclusion of varied and mixed races - the colour of skin should be various and manifold. Of the fifty, the ones who place their hands on the table first will have to wait for a long time whilst the rest of the process happens above them - but that is how we will change things, for the stronger to support the smaller. Resources for small scale exhibition: Access to people to take part – mainly local publicity. Shoot: An HD camera is required, a table and white table cloth, a black space (studio) to shoot in and some lights and a technician to help rig the camera above. Editing: The next day a final cut editing suite would be needed to prepare the footage for display. Then Exhibition: The following day a projector will be rigged above a table of the same size and a computer or blu ray DVD or media player to play back, a table, with a white table cloth and a technician to help rig. LARGE SCALE EXHIBITION – two versions The seven small exhibitions come together in the form of two large scale exhibitions: Initially the above footage is projected on to a set of tables (depending on resources available). The artwork is also the shooting of the footage for the exhibition to slowly replace the original with theme oriented ‘sums’. I.E. ‘The sum of hands of people of colour’; ‘The sum of hands of refugees’; ‘The sum of hands of indigenous people’; The sum of hands of immigrants’, ’the sum of hands of artists’; The sum of hands of steelworkers’ etc So the work is not just the exhibition but the creation of the exhibition. The Sum of Hands: ITS MAKING AND ITS DOCUMENTATION Shooting: A camera is suspended above looking directly down on to the table. People surround the table and slowly, one by one they place their hands on to the table taking care to get only their hands, wrists and arms in to shot and not their heads or shoulders. Eventually there are fifty pairs of hands of differing skin tones from black to white on the table. When the last pair of hands comes upon the table, they wait for a moment and then slowly leave, followed by all the other hands until eventually only one pair of lands is left. Whilst they're doing the 'performance' everyone will sing a low note, starting quiet, building and receding to silence when the last hands come off - and I'll record a clapping track for the middle (a sound like white noise) also building and receding.
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RESOURCES REQUIRED: Camera, mike, dark space of 5 metres by 4 metres located near the exhibition, lights, computer, table, rigging equipment The second form of a large scale exhibition requires 7 tanks of the same size as the original table, each filled with a white commodity, like milk, salt, soya, rice etc... This can take the form of gradually shooting a set of ‘Sums of communities) or utilize just the original footage where the work is actually the audience engaging with the commodities.
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