One of the few places in the village to have a nearly reliable phone signal (good luck with that national emergency text!) is by the river between two fields and under a flyover. I use the graffiti there as targets for AR videos based on my paintings, curating content to cater for all ages and sensibilities.

On Bank Holiday Monday (UK) May 29th, I ‘opened’ my exhibition after posting on our local Facebook page details of its whereabouts and what people needed to be able to view the exhibits. I also said I would be there from 10-11am and 3-4pm to talk to anyone interested about the paintings, the technology, and the cats.

I was there early to make sure I knew of any problems with the signal for instance and there weren’t.

Cats collection

All original paintings are in acrylics on A2 card or paper primed with gloss varnish.

Visitors

Although one person arrived as a result of the FB post, the rest were essentially passers-by, ambushed with small prints of the paintings and a flyer. Amazingly, only one person showed little interest in any of the possible facets – art, painting, outdoor gallery, technology, cats – but was very amenable to being asked.

The person who had made a deliberate effort was interested in both the paintings – size, medium, and so forth, and also the technology that was able to place and activate it. She had downloaded the Artivive app and was prepared to use it but I was there giving undivided attention! She took some of the small prints to scan at home.

The people I intercepted crossed all age groups, one small boy calling back over his shoulder a thank you for showing him the cat, and an elderly man in a mobility vehicle showing ocnsiderable interest in the process and taking both a print and a leaflet back with him.

Three ‘visitors’ were artists; one dressed for running and two on bicycles but none of them actually running or cycling at the time. They all saw the technology as an innovative way of bringing art to the public, which reflected the comments of another visitor who asked how long the images would be there because he wanted to bring his grandchildren, noted with regret that ‘they don’t walk anywhere, it’s all phones’, then realised ‘Phones!’

Some people were only interested in the activated paintings, others the technology that put them there.

It’s an odd experience, lurking in an underpass surrounded by graffiti, and it was a while before I discovered that the best approach, (after leaping out of the nettles to announce some variation of ‘bet you didn’t know there was a pop-up gallery here!), was to show people the prints first, demonstrate the app on the print, then show them the full sized versions activated from the targets on the underpass walls. Starting with the tech, even just demonstrating it rather than talking about it, seemed less engaging. Nevertheless, while I enjoyed talking to people, I felt uncomfortable interrupting them in a place where they might reasonably expect to be left alone. This was not a shopping centre and, from past experience, trying to give leaflets to people there is hard enough even wearing a purple sash and ridiculous heels.

What’s happened though is that many more local people – around 20 – have my flyer, know me better than they did, connect me to the art world and, on this showing, appreciate that I’m prepared to hang out in a wind tunnel to get noticed.