Three

A one-to-one performance staged in a photographic darkroom where participants experience an event that they simultaneously documented – acting both as witness and catalyst for the performance.

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Where this work has ended up

Presented at: Exeter School of Art & Design (2003)

This is the first artwork that we made together as LOW PROFILE!

Three

Once the participants had arrived for their pre-booked time slot, they were greeted by their guide, who gave each participant a camera, some simple instructions and then led them into the darkroom.

Standing alone in the darkness armed only with the camera, the participant slowly became aware of another person in the darkroom. Participants then had to decide when to take their three photographs – each time the camera’s flash briefly illuminating the space. At the same time the camera recorded these decisions in a photograph.

Participants were later invited to return and view the resulting documentation, giving them a forum where they could discuss their experience of the piece with others. They were then given one of the photographs as ‘their’ record of the event.

The piece explored what it means to experience a live performance, to remember it and to view it through sometimes misleading documentation (the photographs were perfectly exposed although they were taken in complete darkness).