Thursday 4/16 Entry

Audience Participation

Audience participation is used in many kinds of education, entertainment, and "edutainment" as a way to force the viewer to think about what they are seeing. Often, the viewer is asked to answer questions, collaborate in groups to solve a problem, or be an example for the rest of the group by actively engaging in the performance.

In this work, the viewer is asked to do the same. Each photograph is slightly off putting. By being this way, the viewer is forced to figure out why they are apprehensive about the scene, as this is human nature. The viewer must then dissect the photograph, piece by piece, until they have found the irregularities within the seemingly normal depiction.

Once they have found the irregularities, they instinctively will want to solve the problem. The viewer is asked to subconsciously replaced the empty space in the photographs with what "should" be there, as they would consider it. All of these interactions are performed subconsciously, however the end result is an almost "Eureka!" moment. They are asked to do this to every piece in the series, until they have found a common thread within them all and, thus, solved the puzzle.

*The image above can be found at http://magicofricksilver.com*