This project was inspired by the Fluxus art movement of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the work of Marcel Duchamp. I am interested in breaking down traditional boundaries surrounding art: what qualifies as art, who has ownership of an artwork, and where the role of the artist ends and the role of the audience begins.
The work is designed to be physically interacted with by the viewer. Rather than presenting a finished image as a fixed object, I invite the audience to alter, manipulate, and contribute to the work. Chance becomes an essential part of the process, as neither I nor the participant can completely predict what the resulting image will become.
In this way, the artwork belongs neither entirely to the artist nor entirely to the audience. I create the initial conditions and establish the framework, but the participant becomes a collaborator. Each interaction changes the work and creates the possibility for something unexpected. Artistic knowledge or technical skill is not required; participation itself becomes an act of creation.
The process is more important than the final result. Once an artwork is considered finished, its possibilities become fixed. By allowing the audience to continue altering the work, I think of it as living art: something that remains unfinished and capable of change for as long as the process continues.
As the creator, I am responsible for initiating and maintaining that process. If the work changes hands, that responsibility passes to its new owner. They must decide whether to continue the process or end it—to keep the artwork alive or to let it become finished.
Ultimately, this project asks the viewer to consider where an artwork actually exists: in the object itself, in the artist’s intention, in the act of participation, or somewhere between all three.
*These six images were hung on the walls throughout The College for Creative Studies for my senior thesis. I left them with a marker and a note asking for participation. These are the results over two days.
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