Tate Modern: A4 Outdoor Pursuit

This is it - the Turbine Hall. A vast space within a huge building filled with people who are currently (summer 2012) installed as art. Here your every step, breath and sole presence contributes to the art experience of others. The space without people seems to be just architecture.

WARNING: Please note that below visibility option CANNOT be undertaken within the Turbine Hall and has to remain as a concept. Covering faces has been deemed a potential security risk therefore please refrain from doing so.

Visibility option:
With your index finger make holes in the sheet for eyes (compulsory) and your mouth (optional). Wear your A4 sheet as a mask. Do not worry about attracting suspicious looks or cynical remarks. Attempt to behave normally. Last in your mask as long as you can and see what happens. Observe who speaks to you and why. Gravitate towards other people and observe their responses to you.

Invisibility option:
Find a quiet spot away from picnicking families or teenage crowds recovering from art overdoses. Use your A4 sheet as a cushion to sit on. Observe the passers- by. Take a sip of your mineral water. Try not to talk to others and do not let people walk into you.

Had enough? Were encouraged to leave?

Head for the door – a large exit towards the west side of the building. The crowd entering the gallery might make it difficult for you to exit but aim for the ramp on the other side of the glass and stop pretty much as soon as you reach it.

The balcony above the ramp has a feel of a 21st Century Speakers’ Corner though one would be unlikely to attract the crowd to stop AND listen. The crowd, however, might get snippets of the speakers’ words of wisdom whilst moving from A to B. Their trajectory is not affected but the speeches of those who have something to say can be delivered to their passing consciousness.

Visibility option:
Roll up your A4 sheet, use it as a megaphone and enter the balcony above the ramp to share your wisdom and truth. This is your 15min of fame. Be a hero.

Invisibility option:
Observe the balcony from a comfortable and shaded spot. Imagine what words would make the crowd alter their course to the entrance or better still stop and listen. Imagine yourself as a hero.

Inanimate objects carry their own layers of meanings that can be unleashed with a little help. Have a careful look around the west side of the building for opportunity to leave an unexpected visual statement or message.

Visibility option:
Use your A4 sheet to create a new layer of meaning. This can include covering up part of an advertisement or adding the sheet to an existing image. Folding, ripping and manipulating the A4 sheet in some ways is encouraged! The meaning doesn’t need to be deep or life changing although it would help if it is. Your double-sided sticky tape is your friend.

Invisibility option:
Gravitate to a corner or wall and begin scanning the area for multilayers of meanings – they can be on people’s shirts, bags or attached to the café menu. Before moving on find at least one layer of connection you could act on if you only wanted to. Where would you place the A4 sheet so other people would be influenced?

The west side of the gallery is blessed with a large number of benches in the shade. It is a great location but totally underused, mainly due to the lack of photographic opportunities – who wants trees and containers in their holiday pictures collections. This makes it a perfect rest spot for napping and picnicking. We are going to use it as a nearly midway reflection point. Evaluation is highly valued after all.

Visibility option:
Use your A4 sheet as a pillow and lay stretched out across an empty bench. Stare at the sky for an added bonus. Set your alarm to go off in 5min in case you fall asleep. Make sure your belongings are not left unattended. Concentrate on the colour (it is most likely to be dirty light blue, deeply concrete grey, eye squinting off white or slightly polluted yellow) and lose yourself in its depth as you would with Rothko’s painting whilst reflecting on what has happened so far.

Ask yourself out loud:
What kind of art would I like to encounter on daily basis?
How art can help me?
What sort of changes provoked by art can I observe in myself?
Reply to yourself in a loud voice.

Invisibility option:
Sit comfortably away from distractions of any sort. Use your A4 sheet as a pillow. Sit upright so not to draw attention from passers-by. Silently reflect on what has happened so far.

Use another sheet to register your thoughts.
Do you encounter the art you like on a daily basis?
Is art helping you in any way?
Is seeing/experiencing art changing you in any way?

Walk through the green in front of the gallery and head for the bridge. After your moment of reflection and singularity you will be more aware of a crowd stream on the Millennium Bridge.

There seems to be no code of behaviour. People walk at you from all the directions. Welcome to the pedestrian M1 of river Thames. Head for the bridge and… abruptly stop in the middle.

Visibility options:
Use your A4 as a handkerchief and wave it frantically for 2min solid. This should give enough time for passers-by to realise that you have some, but yet unknown, purpose but at the same time will not strain their ability to cope with a stationery monolith not eager to follow the stream.

You can prefer to not be in motion. In this case keep the A4 sheet high above your head with both hands like a flag. Look confidently ahead. Some might read it as a secret communication language, equivalent to smoke signals. Allow for the unexpected but again restrict yourself to 2min of stationery non-action.

The 2 minutes is to ensure a number of things: that your feet will not have been trodden on too heavily and that you are not perceived as a local attraction (there are sand castles under the bridge built daily when the tide is out, there is also a future rock star knee deep in the river Thames delivering his performance to the visitors). You might earn yourself 50p too for your efforts if you stand too long. It is up to you how you wish to play it.

Invisibility option:
Becoming the centre of attention is not your thing? Worry not.
You can explore using your A4 sheets as a marker of your presence in a subtler way. Carry your sheet casually under your arm and try to walk into the background of as many photos being taken by tourists as you can during a 2min period. Choose the frames wisely. Make sure the sheet is under the arm closest to the camera that captures your presence.

Stay on the bridge for a further 5min but this time to observe. See how seamlessly you can fit into the crowd and find an empty spot by the bridge’s banister.

Visibility option:
Curl your A4 to create low spec but effective oculars/binoculars and observe the view carefully through your new viewer. Follow the movement of the boat, trajectory of a seagull or simply concentrate on a single spot and take in all its aspects.

Invisibility option:
A white sheet in front of your eye makes you feel awkward?
Stand at your spot and close one of your eyes (use sunglasses for extra invisibility) choose one person approaching and watch him/her intensely. Take mental notes of things that surprise you, be it clothing, behaviour or conversation. Ask yourself why you find it amusing, alien or attractive.

The east side of the gallery that we are moving towards now is neither attractive nor inviting.

A large fence and containers in front and behind it make it all look like a micro industrial park. However the fence lends itself to act as a large canvas. A4 sheets can create blind spots in the cityscape, attract viewers to a monotonous view and create playful temporary layers within the city.

Visibility option:
Look at the landscape outside of the space from different positions (1m away from the fence, 5 m away from the fence) and choose what you wish to cover to alter the view. Make something either go missing or expose it. Your A4 sheets can be easily attached to it with double-sided sticky tape. Document your altered view with a camera. If you don't no one will believe you.

Invisibility option:
Messing around with the fence sounds too intrusive? Not your thing to affect particles of reality and construct other possibilities of ‘now’? Fine. Loiter on the path on the east side of the building connecting the green and the side road in front of the staff entrance to the gallery. This little green tunnel is mainly used by the workers of numerous companies located nearby, the majority of who wear formal clothes and staff badges. These people form part of the invisible machine of this city. Enter their territory with your A4 sheet and fold it into half each time you spot a person with a work badge on. Try to fold each A4 sheet at least 5 times until all but one of your A4 sheets remains unfolded. Leave the folded A4 sheets on the first bench you spot. Arrange them to look like micro huts for small creatures.

You have probably spotted it already, the large container sports a large S O S sign and has the quality of a portal able to connect you with other realities. You have reached the destination where this route finishes but your ability to create ripples on the monotony of the everyday thrives. You can HELP to keep it going beyond this route and outside of your phone or computer screen.

Visibility option:
Come to the container and gently knock on the door. Who knows what it might lead to?

Invisibility option:
Take your last A4 sheet home with you and attach it somewhere visible around your house (fridge, bedroom door, bathroom mirror all are good options). This is your portable access point to a place where you don’t have to meet learning objectives, earn money or satisfy the needs of others. Visit this place often and tell your friends about it.