Client: Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Nosy Parker is an interactive seating environment designed for a performance and surveillance video art exhibit. The title comes from the term “nosy parker,” which is used to describe a meddlesome person. When a museum patron sits on one of the stools, a camera embedded in the stool starts taking pictures, which are projected on the floor around the occupied seat. Once more than one stool is occupied, the images from each stool start floating toward each other and take on different behaviors, such as encircling, “sniffing” and trading places. The installation engages museum visitors as performers and encourages social exchanges. Patrons also become more actively engaged in the exhibit’s theme, which highlights both the loss of control people experience under surveillance and exposes people’s fascination with acting for the camera.

Contact:Sigi Moeslinger, IDSA
Antenna Design New York Inc
212-229-1106
[email protected]

Credit:Antenna Design New York Inc.