a performance project conceived and directed by Giuseppe L. Bonifati (IT)
VR video
Momchil Alexiev (BG)
graphic and design
Linda Sugataghy (HU)
partnership
DOO performing arts group (IT)
Danish Arts Foundation (DK)
AQB (HU), Actifilm Ltd (BG)
Every morning a guardian opens the doors to the visitors, watching them as they walk around and admire art in the corridors, and then every night he says goodnight to the exhibited works. He loves the mighty bronze statues on the days when he feels God, and envies them when life does not smile. He is usually sitting on a small, uncomfortable chair without moving, thoughtful; in his constant observation, he becomes one of the objects himself. From subject who watches, to object watched, for then disappearing.
What if the Guardian is able to come out of this mimesis with the museum and to becomepart of the live arts? What happens if he starts to interact on a daily basis with the visitors by deciding to which works to lead them? Or if he whispers in their ears about unknown secrets of the exposed artists? He might even invite the most daring people to get well dressed in front of Helmut Newton’s photos or to take off all of their clothes before the paintings of Monet…
The Guardian can also interact following the best artistic tendencies, being one day in the mood of this, another day in another one: on Monday, it’s time to run exalted in the corridors like the Expressionists, on Tuesday he jumps throughout the rooms shouting like Futurists, on Wednesday he gives directions to the visitors with disordered gestures as the Cubists, on Thursday he comes to work fully covered with commercial brands as in Pop Art, or on Friday he might stay in the corners, stinging roses in his arm as in Body Art, on Saturday he places himself, ecstatic, in the middle of the space as a Renaissance figure, while on Sunday, as in geometric Abstractionism, he ends the week by making precise crosswords on the walls of the museum…
***
The Guardian is an interdisciplinary project (performance, virtual reality and video art) designed for museum spaces. It combines the boundaries of virtual reality, performance and art criticism. The artist will be employed as a guardian of the art museum and he will work in incognito, accomplishing a daily performance within those walls, integrating himself with the current exhibitions. Through a Virtual Reality application created ad hoc for the project, the visitors will be able to experience the mixed reality of the museum, guided by the guardian, with the help of a headset and a mobile chair. Thus the performance will work on the level of real time personal contact and also in virtual reality at the same time. The project can be followed online and a collective performance will be realised at the end, with the participation of the real guardians of the museum. The final product will be a documentation film about the whole experience.
