Wednesday 27 June 2007

More on "The Floor"


"The Floor" - Floor covered with photographic imagery, Lindsay Colborne 1995

Entering the gallery was a daunting experience for some.
Unsure whether to enter, they would stand at the front door and call out, "Is it OK to walk on this?"

"Yes", was the answer. Of course it was. Walking all over the art was the whole idea. Everything changes, particularly when you interact with it. Nothing lasts forever, everything is eventually destroyed and remade. The act of looking at the floor art as you walked on it played an active part in it's destruction. By helping to destroy the work as they looked at it, the viewers of the work played an active role in the theme of the work.

Since the work was nothing but glued-together bits of photocopy paper, I wasn't expecting it to last too long. I wasn't even sure if it would last through the opening night, but in the end it proved quite resilient and apart from a few nicks and tears, it stayed together for more than a month. Finally a dance party was held on it and "The Floor" was destroyed once and for all.
But that was not the end of it.

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