Interactive Dialogues

120 invitees were randomly selected through personal encounter with the the artists in December 1997. They were offered an opportunity to exchange habitual thought processes for creative thinking at a date and time proposed by the artists. In exchange, the invitees gave the artists information as to their probable location at that date and time. Thus simultaneous networks of creativity were potentially effected. The locations were plotted on a real world map. They were then transferred onto plain white paper as miniscule raised dots. Thus all geographical boundaries are invisible and the networks (of creativity) are practically invisible on the face of that document. Subsequently, this was deemed “Precious” and a dialogue over its ownership commenced through simulated litigation.

Interactive Dialogue was a project by B+K.

B+K was founded by two artists in November 1997 with the aim of embarking upon a shared exploration and questioning of contemporary art practices, to explore ways of eliminating elements of individual authorship, to interrogate and test out collaborative strategies and approaches and the language framing such practices.

Consequently, alongside examining the language framing such practices, B+K has focused on dialogue, participation and process as means to challenge boundaries, expectations, restrictions and conventions.

Over the past 15 years B+K has gathered considerable experience of: working with ‘publics’ in complex situations; making sensitive interventions into pre-existing, conventional systems; and, involving large numbers of participants within creative networks of communication.

B+K’s working strategies continue to focus on fluidity, collaboration, dialogue and the participation of those usually outside the ‘fine art world.’

These strategies are ephemeral, temporary and involve transient, and often random, interventions and interactions with others. B+K’s activities are intended to be unobtrusive, almost non-existent and not entirely ‘serious;’ a means of subverting and questioning traditional patterns of art production, presentation and distribution.

The ethos of B+K’s collaboration is indicated by the use of ‘plus’ instead of the ‘and’ as it is more than the sum of its individual parts.