öffentliche weisung (public directive)

Within the framework of the project [base.ment], which was exhibited for five days in the unused ticket offices on the mezzanine level on the U6 Underground line, Lucia Dellefant's installation "public directive" was positioned on the wall of the ticket booth. The wall has been transformed into an interactive, luminous surface.

There are nine coloured fields, each holding one short sentence. A random generator lights up the fields one after the other. A platform has been installed in front of the wall by means of which the viewers can influence the messages on the wall. If the viewer stands on the platform, after a few seconds one of the fields will remain lit and the message can be read clearly. The messages refer to the typical behaviour of people moving in a mass, such as here in the Underground.

They thematize the protective mechanisms that passengers develop towards the people surrounding them and the resulting behavioural patterns. On the one hand, they are instructed to do things which they would be doing anyway while they are in the Underground; on the other, the passengers are given clear instructions which they can either consciously decide to carry out or ignore. Whatever they decide, they must consciously make a decision for or against the command. This pressure, having to decide for or against an action, and the insecurity resulting from this create a conscious perception of typical behavioural patterns.

Instructions:

- be inconspicuous
- change trains
- drive past your goal
- hang on to your prejudices
- be happy - laugh out loud
- show courage
- always be the first
- piss off

öffentliche weisung                                   2000
300 x 310 x 16 cm wood, random generator, bulb
[base.ment] Odeonsplatz Munich

sposored by Erwin und Gisela von Steiner-Stiftung Munich