'Why? And what does it mean? - Live art performance by Paul Hurley

About

A Bristol-based performance artist will explore new possibilities of ‘streaming art' through the web, by delivering a live art performance to a studio and online audience. The four-hour durational performance is part of Paul Hurley's artist's residency at Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) and will consist of a series of actions, meditations and interactions inspired by the South Bristol estate of Knowle West and Hurley's time there. The event will be documented by a live public audience - photographs and Twitter posts will be uploaded instantaneously to the website www.whosedata.net - and those following online will also be able to add their comments. Hurley, a Bristol-based artist with international exposure, has been working in performance art and installation since 2001 and, in 2010, was awarded a PhD from the University of Bristol for a project with Arnolfini Gallery. In this current project - ‘Why? And what does it mean?' - he explores the data that we produce, as viewers and witnesses, when we experience performances and events. This includes our physical and emotional responses, the thoughts (or ‘mental data') that we process, and media content (or ‘digital data'), such as photographs, comments and Twitter updates. The hypothetical title of the work refers to the questions that a performance might prompt, including: ‘Why — and how — would someone do that?' and the inevitable ‘What does it mean?' For more information visit www.kwmc.org.uk or contact Rachel on 0117 353 4609 / rachel.clarke@kwmc.org.uk