TEST: Head in the Tate (working title)

*Documentation only*

This event involved four participants. Each person was given a headset and invited to wander around the Russel Coates gallery in Bournemouth, which is a collection of curiosities and artefacts from the Victorian era. The idea was to have the body was in the Russel Coates museum, but the ears in the Turbine hall at Tate Modern. The audio they were given was a year old recording of ambience in Tate Modern which included snatches of discussion by visitors and the sounds of children playing.

After the participants had had as much time as they wanted, they came back and chatted about their experience.

The resulting collected data exists as verbal and written feedback from the participants (although not asked to write feedback two participants very generously submitted written notes).

The reason I organised this event was to observe to what extent you can nuance the experience that an audience has in a traditional museum art space. I have become interested in the variety of art experiences that audiences have access to and what their sensorial expectations are of these spaces. If I can understand these expectations I feel I will engage in a more valuable dialogue with my own audience.

The Russel Coates seemed like a good space to start as the expectations we have about the collection start as soon as we approach the house and realise that it is a former victorian dwelling by the sea. It is also the sort of art space where people primarily go in order to visit the cafe.
Upon analysis of the submitted data certain themes can be recognised. Although this was a small sample of people a recurring comment was that although at first the sound was distracting it quickly became immersive. It then became a shock to remove the headset and hear the "real world" once again.  Another recurring idea was that it inspired reflections of internal and external space. One participant illustrated thisby explaining that as she looked out of the window whilst wearing the headset she imagined that she could be listening to the people on the beach far below and yet be totally removed, as if she were watching a film.

 From the feedback data I have realised that it doesn't need to be a live link or a "swap" to encourage a response. I have also learned that even without visual or tactile stimulus I can effectively encourage the audience to reflect upon their body in space and what/where their own internal and external spaces could be.

In many ways the art spaces that I have appropriated in this art event are not comparable. It was therefore interesting for me to juxtaposition them and almost create a parallel.