The Only Way Is Essex Street (2017)

Sit back, relax and indulge in a little REALity tv. 

Using Facetime, you;  the Leftovers audience are connected live, to my Essex Street, Plymouth home. 

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As an individual interested in the interaction between art, the everyday and all its mundanities, I have recently found myself responding to and centering people as my subjects, focusing on real-life, real time encounters and interactions. The Only Way Is Essex Street (2017) showcases the ordinariness of real-life inside my own Plymouth student house, whilst my housemates go about their day. You’re able to merely observe, to meet and potentially spark up a dialogue with someone new, whilst involved in an art work, questioning the bounds of presence, social boundaries and the everyday. 

This work stems from an ever-growing interest in the art object or act as a social platform, where the resulting interaction or social act becomes the work itself. With online video calls as my point of departure, I have grown increasingly concerned by the value of online connections, exploring and exploiting the technology I am currently relying on for connection. Utilising my new found physical/geographical distance between the Netherlands and the UK, I have connected individuals and places, that would otherwise not interact. As a spectator, you can watch an evening unfold, in all it's real-life glory. However, as a participator the experience could become something much more than a visual.

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