Based in the UK, Reactor is a group of contemporary artists whose collective practice is focused
on creating projects in which audiences become active participants. By developing situations that
leave no room for the passive observer Reactor create work in which, rather than being forced,
active engagement becomes the norm. Group dynamics and social interaction come to the fore, as
participants immerse themselves in an unknown that invites risk-taking and a heightened sense of
reality. The multilayered and social nature of the experience encourages diverse interpretations
of the meaning of the work and emphasises the responsibility individuals have in forming collective
perceptions of reality. A strong interest in community building and the social microcosm pervades
the work, and social technologies - from Web based networking to complex CCTV systems -
enable the work to transcend its expected parameters, spilling into the world beyond. Ultimately,
Reactor's work provides no immediate or easy answers, but its insistent demand that participants
actively interpret and take responsibility for their actions and situation become a means to think
about the question.
"Reactor has been at the forefront of collaborative working and situational aesthetics within the
region, gaining increasing national recognition for their unusual and provocative strategies for
critically engaging audiences. Their use of performative installation as a space of communication
in which reflexive and interactive relationships are with their audience has been innovative in
concept and fearless in execution."
"Reactor combine the most playful of playfulness with a mathematical precision. While losing
yourself in the sheer pleasure of their work, behind the curtain of your brain, associations are
being tweaked and twisted. Long after visiting a Reactor work you realise you were somewhere else
entirely. Among the most interesting, engaging and rigorous artists emerging from the UK today."
(Kathy Fawcett, The City Gallery)
(John McGrath, Contact Theatre)