Photo by Neo Aarnikotka

I You it, We You They



Art Fair Suomi '17

Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki, Fi


Porin Juhlaviikot

Pori, Fi

An audio track is heard simultaneously from three sets of head phones. In the performance I carry the head phones, wearing one pair myself and offering two other pairs for viewers. The only verbal part of the performance is the audio track that can be heard from the head phones. The audio track is looped and it consists of one phrase: I love you.

When a viewer turns into a listener, I look the individual in the eye until they abandon me. While the first listener receives all the attention, the second one becomes an observer. The observer hears what is inaudible for others in the space. Still the participant remains excluded from eye contact between me and the first listener. 

The performance juxtaposes official and informal, public and intimate, and social and private. As the title suggests, the work asks how a space between me, you and it is defined, and what forms us, you and them. 

© 2019 by Laura Puska