Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre (London- Uruguay): Official site and artist portfolio

FEEDback - 2006
Occupying the installation Square Operation by Georgia Agathocleous
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

For the duration of a day I occupied a portable office space created by a BA Fine Art student as her Degree Show piece. I used the opportunity as an excuse to come back to the College where I had studied ten years ago. I was intrigued to find out what would be like to return to College as an artist doing a new piece of work specifically for this setting. My presence as a practicing artist working within a studens piece somehow shortcircuited the convential pathways of art education, in which often only academically-fit postgraduates return to the institution as tutors.

In the space provided I set up a very simple meeting space, in which I invited people to come in and have a drink or a snack. I explained to them why I was there, and asked them what were their expectations about art. I wanted to use this opportunity to do a mock-up of a marketing research excercise, as if conducted by an artist trying to find out what is it that audiences are looking for in art. I have compiled the varied responsed given to me by the people that I spoke to, into a text that describes a somehow ideal art work.

The work took an unexpected turn when people started asking me personal questions. Since I have explained to them that i was a postgraduate, people wanted to know how I had applied and got a place in this College, what was it like to study in Central Saint Martins, what kind of relationship I maintained to the College after graduation, and how I managed to make a living out of a conceptual practice that wasn't necessarily commercial. I was very pleased with this questioning, as I felt it turned the piece into a real feedback experience for both myself and the audience.

This artwork wants to know what the audience want