Democracy game
The work is a collection of chairs placed in a circle and the participants of the exhibition are invited to sit on; creating a mine democratic happening; people within the circle can create rules; have discussions and formulate ideas. A person is sitting on a chair their allowed to be heard within the circle, only way to remove a person from a chair is to vote for the removal of that specific chair, thus minimising the circle. (Chairs can be reintroduced into the circle.) The aim of the work is to demonstrate that most people who take part will act in a very similar manner, if the work is placed in a specific space. The removal of a chair might happen due to friends playing around, or because there is one or more who are more willing to explore the boundaries of the work. People will expect certain things when visiting galleries or artist opening, so in most cases the event/work will be quite stale since most people will be playing as a fun interactive experience. If someone who does not share a similar belief or ideology within a larger group of participants that person could easily be removed.
My predictions are:
1. In most instances, the work being displayed within a specific form of gallery space with a specific audience; whereby the people share the same or similar ideological beliefs the conversations and interaction will become boring, however people will see it as enlightening or important since they are exploring topic matters they themselves find important. The escapism acts not as a different place but rather a need to interact with familiar things. The people engaged in the work will find it satisfying since they have been able to live a sort of escapist artistic fantasy.
2. When there is a uncertainty in the people taking part in the work, there will eventually be a point whereby those who are in a minority will be voted out or removed from the group. In this occasion the participants can have a racist, xenophobic, homophobic etc. narrative. Voting the people out is to bring balance to the group and thereby comeback to a more stable non offensive, narrative. Similar to the situation in one.
In both cases the activity that drives people to engage with the work is a form of formulated understanding on how specific spaces should be, how they can move and escape into such spaces. With the work above as a creator the escapist nature is within the created work, since the outcomes are determined by my own ideas for it to function. The failure of the work happens therefore when people who largely disagree or hate each other yet are still able to function within the circle and not remove any chairs.
