Event 2: Jonathan Moore Solo Show

On April 25, I attended the graduate solo show for Jonathan Moore. It was an interesting experience, and I can't say that I had ever been to an art exhibition quite like it before! The exhibition was designed in a way that the audience was a vital part of the show and had to actively participate in it.

The first part of the show was set up very similar to an airport security screening. As we entered, a lady dressed as a security guard had us show her our ID's one at a time, and she proceeded to scrutinize them, comparing the picture on the card with our face and glaring and staring the whole time. After that, we had to put our bags through a makeshift screener, then step through a body scanner. After my bag had gone through the screener, the security guard took the water bottle from my bag and threateningly asked me what the liquid was. When I told him it was water, he questioned me again. All the security guards would yell at people if they were taking too long to perform a certain task or were doing something incorrect.

Left - The security guard that was checking bags, along with the different stickers

Right - A picture of me outside of the event with the security guard checking ID's

After this, a security guard would tell us to move a knob that was on the table. The knob was a little suspicious looking, so many people were very hesitant to touch it, including me, perhaps fearing that it would cause something unexpected to happen or shock us. Once we touched/moved the knob, the security guard would place a sticker on us. There were several stickers with different words on them, for example "OK", "Accepted", "Do not use", and "Rejected". While I received the sticker that said "Accepted", my friend got the sticker "OK". There wasn't a clear system for who got which sticker; perhaps it was the direction in which the knob was moved.

Left - Microphone hanging inside the room

Right - A picture of me next to the small room with my "Accepted" sticker

People then asked to go into a tiny room. The security guard would ask a different number of people to go in each time. While the person in front of me was the only one in the room when they went in, when it was my turn to enter it, the security guard had four people squeeze into this small room. The room was dark inside, with a microphone hanging from the ceiling and a small unlit LED screen on one of the walls. We were in the room for about 30 seconds, and then the security guard opened a door on the other side of the room and yelled at us to come out. A little further, another security guard stopped me to take a short survey. The questions in the survey included:

• "Did you enjoy your visit?"
• "Were the staff courteous to you?"
• "Would you recommend this to a friend?"
• "Would you come again?"

Interestingly, my responses to these questions were ignored and overruled unless it was a positive response. In particular, when I responded "No" to the second question above, the security guard with "I'll take that as a yes". Once I had answered all the questions, the security guard ended by saying "If you have any other suggestions, keep them to yourself." Another thing I noticed was that the several people behind me were not asked to take the survey; this might have been determined by which sticker each person received.

The inside of the exhibition room with a bunch of megaphones in the middle 

This show as unlike any art show I had ever attended before. Because this exhibit was highly interactive and required active participation on behalf of the audience, I believe that the underlying message of this show was communicated through the emotions that one experienced when going through the exhibition. I think that the experiences one went through during this show of being treated and spoken to without courtesy or respect, being placed in uncomfortable situations, and having your opinions and thoughts ignored and denied were all intended to showcase how many institutions in our society today treat people like products. With the education system, we are standardized based on our grades and GPA, with the health system there is a certain standard of health - when we go to the hospital, we are treated for our illnesses then discharged like a product when we have been "fixed". And when people don't conform to these standards, they are deemed as "inferior" and "less than". This art show by Jonathan Moore helped to open our eyes to the reality of our "assembly line" world today.