Artworks: Site / Scale / Audience

Measuring the Universe

Roman Ondák

Roman Ondák, Measuring the Universe 2007

This was an installation in Tate St Ives in 2011. upon entering the gallery visitors would measure their height on the wall with their name and date. It reminds me of Daniel Eatock's One Hour Circle Painting in that the art itself is an idea which only physically appears with the visitors' participation - it is created by the viewers. In Measuring The Universe, something we observe everyday - peoples' heights - is turned into an image, revealing the distribution of heights like a scientific diagram, but also like a shadow of all the visitors that have come through the gallery, each leaving a piece of information about themselves.

The Church of the Omnipresent Success Energy

Joseph Learmonth (CSM student)

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A procession for the fictional cult "The Church of the Omnipresent Success Energy" in Oxford Circus. It is amazing that even though they exaggerate and parody every aspect of a cult, real cults are so strange that it is still convincing and caused people to engage with them, asking how to join. Looking further into this project I love how much material was created for it, from an interview with the church's leader to holy relics. I find the idea of creating a fictional new world really interesting, and creating documents and designs as if it is real. This is something I considered earlier on in the project, when I was more focused on ideas of time and scale, and if I could imagine a world where something about these is fundamentally different - what would it be like? In a way I have started to return to this in looking at the Basel and Nuremburg pamphlets, imagining that we treated celestial events today with the same fear and awe as back then. To go further into this, I could create a poster or leaflet along these lines including text, such as predicting what may happen as a result of the omens in the sky.

How would you change the world?

Pine Chirathivat (CSM student)

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This project was based on the quote "Give me but one firm spot on which to stand, and I will move the earth” by Archimedes, and asked people in Trafalgar square how they would change the world. The location is well suited for this as it is very busy, but with people there for leisure, not commuting or rushing, with time to spare. It also works on multiple levels as it can be imaginative or fun, especially for children to take part, but also a serious question of how our world should be. Like Measuring the Universe, it is an artwork created by its viewers. A possibility for me is asking people unanswerable questions, returning to ideas about scale and time, such as questioning where they situate a distant world in their minds - thinking about our internal map, how we deal with existing in a world where we can't know everything.

Phase 4 research

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