Operating Instructions
Description:
Diana Burgoyne’s solo exhibition featured electric fans hanging in cages that the viewer controlled by activating light-sensitive switches with a helmet-like crank mechanism that sat on the head.
A didactic with operating instructions read: “Place helmet on head. Remove pipe from hook. Move head slowly back. Move head slowly down. Move head slowly forward. Move head slowly up. If problems occur hold helmet with hands and repeat instructions.”
The exhibition was accompanied by a thirty-minute interactive sound performance by Burgoyne presented on September 19, 1985 as part of the first Vancouver fringe festival.
Video documentation is available upon request.
Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.
We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.