Visitors to my studio during Forth Valley Open Studios who came expecting to buy work were in for a shock.
They found themselvles immersed in an interactive artwork with themselves as the “star”.
So, what was it it?
Well, research shows that we are hardwired for optimisim see “The Optimism Bias” by Tali Sharot- and a visiting psychologist to my studio from Stirling University confirmed it saying there are numerous papers on the subject.
So I asked people to smile using my iphone. They then emailed it to themselves, with a copy to me.
So the visitors get a photograph of themselves and I get another contribution to my photomontage “Smile”.
It’s a win-win situation. Simple yet very effective.
Now I discover Yoko Ono has a similar project in the Serpentine gallery, London.
And the Park gallery in Falkirk currently has an exhibition “Smile”.
All I can say there is an awful lot of smiling going on despite the economic gloom and doom with a promise of a euro meltdown and war in the Middle East.
But then we are hardwired for hope.
