Exercises in Public Safety

2017 · Performance and installation

Exercises in Public Safety brings together performance actions in which traffic cones become props in an unstable encounter between the body and its audience. In place of their familiar role as markers of order and protection, the cones become awkward extensions of the performer’s body. Participants pour liquid down a cone, turning an everyday object of public safety into an instrument of exposure, dependence and absurdity.

Through camp humour and physical vulnerability, the work unsettles the authority of the male figure. The performer’s apparent control gives way to a situation shaped by those watching and taking part, blurring the boundary between spectacle and participation.

Performance documentation, 2017.