Only the Envelope

McKenzie, Vahri (2016). Only the Envelope consent script. Bunbury, Australia: Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.

In a scripted delivery designed to win ‘informed consent’, a ‘scientist’ offered visitors the opportunity to be involved in an ‘experiment’ by viewing an original video while wearing an eye-tracking device. The work offers a recursively playful performance of faith in ‘science’ that troubles a distinction between the apparently private experience of viewing art with the apparently public experience of being surveilled, exploring the notion that negotiating ‘informed consent’ is associated with loss of power and knowledge. (Performed in the re-enactment video).