Touched

Touched

1996

Touched

Zone Gallery, Newcastle and Landesmuseum, Linz, Austria

{touch v. & n.
-v. 1 tr. come into or be in contact with (another thing) at one or more points. 2 tr. bring the hand etc. into contact with. 3a intr. be in or come into contact with one another. 3b tr. bring into mutual contact. 4 tr. rouse tender or painful feelings in. 6a tr. disturb or harm. 6d tr. affect. 7b tr. concern. 8b tr. approach. 10 tr. (as touched adj.) slightly mad.
-n. 1 the act or an instance of touching, esp. with the body or hand. 2a the faculty of perception through physical contact, esp. with the fingers }

– definition excerpts from the Concise Oxford Dictionary

 

Touched

As the viewer passed through a corridor, fragile, videoprojected images of hands were caught inadvertently on his/her passing body……reaching out, touching, caressing, grasping .
In each case the body of the viewer became host to, and therefore part of the image.
Sensory audio provided an intimate and constantly moving soundscape, resulting in a suggested (and at times suggestive) narrative, choreographed by the individual’s progress through the space, with variable experiences setting up alternative readings of the work.
Deliberately ‘invisible’, Touched repositioned the role of the viewer within both its realisation and perception.

Touched was also shown in a modified form as part of Suspect Devices, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle 1997 and Lux Gallery London 1998