Abstract

A VIEWING (performance intervention in 2007 in Dublin) allowed us (Marilyn Arsem, Susanne Bosch and Sandra Johnston) to invite an audience to accompany us as we looked at properties for sale in Dublin 8. We choose properties between 280,000 and 390,000 Euros, a price range we believed they we could individually afford on our own current incomes. We each arranged two viewings, one for each evening with a real estate manager. All of the viewings took place between 6-6.30pm. We all meet the audience at the Fatima Luas Station. The audience was divided into groups of 2-4 persons and invited to accompany one of. An introduction was given at the Luas station or during the walk to the property. The audience was invited to be the extra eyes at a viewing process and to consciously observe details about the viewing and the property. They were told that this is a real life situation and that the agent did not know about the art aspect of this viewing. The structuring of A VIEWING was the deliberate intention to provide an experience where the audience would be in a level place with us from the moment everyone stepped through the door. The audience where independent within the process to form their own opinions and have those carried through into a broader discussion. People formed surprisingly strong opinions.Publication:2008 des/IRE, Designing Houses for Contemporary Ireland, Gandon Editions / National Sculpture Factory CorkArticle: 2007 Joan Fowler, High Stakes, Visual Artists’ News Sheet, Issue 6, 2007, pg 12