OBSESSING OVER THE MIDDLE OF THE WORD DIALOGUE site-specific installation 2004

Obsessing Over the Middle of the word Dialogue is a site-specific installation combining performance, video, found objects, sculpture and sound.  It was created in a working Upholstery Shop on Hackney Road for the MA Scenography Scenoworks in 2004.

The installation took over the site of the Upholstery shop for one evening.  The different media combined within the space creating a surreal environment into which the viewer was invited to wander and investigate. A fragmented narrative arose, spun between the performed elements, which included dance and spoken word, the text on paper, created live in the space, and a video element embedded within a desk in a dark area under the stairs.  The narratives that evolved were experienced differently within each viewer's individual passage through the space; exploring a method in which the viewer and his or her movement is an active ingredient in simultaneously writing and reading narrative.

The viewer encountered the installation in one of two ways: As a passerby, experiencing a chance encounter, or as an invited guest, who received a small book documenting a journey (written in the present tense) by the artist/narrator along Hackney Road culminating, seemingly by chance, at the entrance to the Upholstery Shop.

"The work is a key example of the ongoing influence of Andre Breton's book 'Nadja' on my practice. Since my first reading of the surrealist work, I have endeavoured to create work that reflects the complex and mobile map of (dis)location present in this book. My practice and research has been exploring the potential of using this method of creating narrative in installation and this work marks a first step in this creative journey." alys

Performed by Sarah Markou, Ian Walsh and Alys Williams. Photograph credits: Stephen Williams.