The Tetra Phase
6th, 13th, 20th & 27th October 2007
Manchester, UK
You have one opportunity to make a difference.
A Castlefield Gallery presentation, in association with Contact.
Set within the claustrophobic environment of Manchester's disused 'Old Fire
Station' The Tetra Phase presented public participants with an intense
journey into subjective experience. On four Saturdays in October, groups
ventured into this disconnected space to interact within an immersive installation.
Working together at some points, but in opposition at others, the groups’
intersected on their individual pathways through the constructed possibilities of
this labyrinthine space.
Within The Tetra Phase meaning is internal and objectivity an impossibility.
Beyond the limitations of ‘true’ or ‘false’, all that can be
known is that certain results follow inevitably from certain actions. Permitted to attend
the event only once, at one of its four occurrences, participants had no opportunity
to repeat the experience or take advantage of a wider perspective. As in life, only one
chance was given.
Further exploring Reactor’s interest in ‘the audience as artwork’,
interpersonal and group dynamics came to the fore, as participants attempted to reconcile
their differing experiences. The omnipresent ‘eye in the sky’, created by a
network of CCTV cameras, providing the only position from which an overarching perspective
on the event might be possible, yet it was inaccessible to participants. Several months
after The Tetra Phase event, recordings from the CCTV system were posted out to
participants who had thought their experiences were over.
