There are two main concerns underpinning my work Demonstrating the World. The first main concern is in an exploration of alien/otherness that began with an appreciation of the ‘Demonstration’ (or ‘How To’) video phenomenon. In these amateur films, habitual, familiar aspects of everyday life are objectified or made ‘other’ through being represented to an audience. As in my work generally, an exploration of the alien/other in Demonstrating the World is informed and influenced by contemporary disability issues. The second main concern of this work was to relocate the ‘How To’ video’s mode of performance into a public intervention in which the role of demonstrator is performed by myself. In this, I wanted to explore the everyday dynamics of consumer environments by drawing public attention to a seemingly generic commercial pitch that, on closer viewing, resists straightforward explanation.
