Traffic Lights #1, #2
9/2019 Performance Crossings Series #1: Reality Resists, Prague, CZ
7/2017 Riga Performance Days, Kaņepes Kultūras centrs, Riga, LV
For the duration of the performance (three or two hours, respectively), I was passing from one side of the street to the other using pedestrian crossings. In both instances, I deliberately chose an intersection where it was possible to walk in a circle (or, better yet, a square) and where the traffic lights were installed on both sides of the street. Each time before I crossed the street I waited for the green light.
The performance was a commentary on how the organization of urban public space structures the possibilities of human movement. The chosen intersection (in Riga) was a rather calm one; most of the time I could have crossed the street safely even with the red light on. Yet, by doing so I would have violated the rules of the city and could have even been fined for my behavior. Hence, when following the order applicable within the infrastructure of the city and enforced through the given law and the machines installed in it (the traffic lights), I was artificially forced to cross the street in a certain manner that limited the choices of movement I might have otherwise.
You can read more about the Traffic Lights here (in my article published for the book Figures of Speech: The Act of Writing in Artistic Practices).