The Body-Double

The Body-Double is a public outreach and audience research project designed by art educator Mikaela Assolent, and carried out in collaboration with Oslo-based interior architect and designer Fatimah N. Mahdi. The project investigates how the works in the biennial and their dissemination function in relation to audiences. So far, The Body-Double has responded to The Viewers by Carole Douillard and Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine by Mette Edvardsen.

When have you ever had a say in what happens in public space? Mikaela Assolent’s project during osloBIENNALEN will give you just that! In her research project The Body-Double, a researcher walks around among the public and initiates conversations with individuals or small groups. This may take the form of open questions or discussions, dialogues around the works, or listening to complaints or praise.

Often museums and biennials have guides who explain to us what we are looking at, and how to view art in the proper way. Instead, this researcher will listen to members of the public and learn from what she hears. The lessons learned from conversations with the public will be the outcome of the research project, which will be conveyed to artists participating in the biennial and its curators. In this way you will actually have a say in the wider appraisal and understanding of the biennial. Perhaps, thanks to your inputs, it will be quite different in the future.