Interview with the Em Ess Aye...

As part of Marnie Slater's Free Tours, MSA presented HOW TO EXPLAIN ART TO MY PARENTS: Unscheduled, covert meanderings (yes, i guiltily ripped that one straight from the scape website). Lucky old me was able to scab a bit of the ol' "Q and A" time. Here's what he had to say...

Name: MSA

Superhero Power: To be able to read my own mind with an amazing amount of accuracy.

Occupation: Artist / scientist (depends on the day)

How did you get involved with Scape?: Through a friend

Fill us in on what your tour's about: It differs from a conventional tour, whereby the viewer actively enters the tour, How to explain art to my parents offered tours to a passer-by with tours consisting of little more than a conversation. Asking strangers to take a photo of myself standing in front of an artwork acted as an entry point. The dialogue after the photo took on many forms- coaxing the stranger to comment on the art, or a simple comment from myself for the person to dwell on.

Why did you choose this format?: I wanted to move away from the idea that a person has to actively enter a tour, and maybe the tour it self had to seek out the viewer. Also I was really busy at the time and this format didn’t require a lot of preparation- and I could do the tours when I felt like it, this seemed to coincide with sunny days and trips to C1 (café).



What do your actual parents think of 'all of this'?: Haven’t actually tried to explain this one to my parents, they’re still recovering from the last explanation on an art work I gave them, have you got any suggestions?



How do you think the public have reacted to Scape08?: Here are some of the publics comments:

I thought that was a window display ( Billy Apple).
That’s an artwork.
It’s a giant tadpole.
Is our tax paying for that? (See change, James Oram) .
Is that a radio prank? (See change, James Oram).
This grandstand has been built for a band, not sure when or who it is though. (Re-public Park, ZUS: Zones Urbaines Sensibles).

Best tour encounter: The story of a giant and how he was going to place the Wheat (Regan Gentry, sculpture 'Flour Power') and that poppy (Phil Price’s Nucleus) into that huge vase (Neil Dawson’s Chalice) , but accidentally dropped them on the way into town.



Worst tour encounter: People in a hurry.

Strangest?: Encountering a really nice guy who seemed really into the whole talking about sculpture in public places, but then managed to turn the conversation around and tried to convert me to some new religion he had just started.

What's your favourite work in Scape and why: Tatzu Oozu’s Endeavour, the whole surprise element and the security guard made the work, and I got to sit on the toilet- I felt I really got to know James.



What will you do when Scape is over?: Continue to read my mind



Yusss, thanks for that one MSA (don't you love the mystery of this guy? sexy). As i have said earlier, if volunteers make the world go round, this guy is the sun of which we orbit.

Now, *do* watch this scape, lovely photos of Lyttelton to come...x