This
action was performed in collaboration with Matt Distel during the Intermedia
Series performance art festival at The Aronoff Center in Cincinnati,
Ohio. Couched in theories of the Situationists, Bus Tour gave
participants an in-depth city tour of Cincinnati's finest 'incidental'
public sculpture. Seeking to encourage the notion that public art (and
'art' in general) can be assigned by simply pointing, the performance
gave viewers a conceptual look at some everyday situational tableaus
that were given the status of art via the tour guides.
Many
of these works were footnoted as having been created by various established
artists. These associations gave anecdotal context and subject matter
for narrative historical fiction. As such, some of the stopping points
were pre-determined in order to draw attention to an incident that coincidentally
had the trappings of a particular artists oeuvre. For example, a long
abandoned construction site that left an enormous mound of piled earth
had an uncanny likeness to a Michael Heizer environmental sculpture,
and was therefore discussed as such.
The
bus was loaded at the Aronoff Center and drove a ten-mile loop around
the outlying communities. During the route, the participants were given
both pre-scripted content and spontaneous accounts of public works that
happened to present themselves. The bus made several stops, and during
driving times, the passengers were engaged with broader conversational
opportunities about public art, art in daily living, and coincidence.
At the end of the one-hour tour, people were given a pamphlet containing
a vague trace of the route and a nearly illegible script of the guides'
narrative. This gesture was meant to further entice the public to make
their own art by observing, pointing, and discussing.