Much has been written tracing the origins of installation art and this project builds on that understanding by taking a more specific look at devices used to manipulate or promote particular responses from the viewer.

A classic definition of installation art is that the spectator is 'in' the work, and completes the work. However, where the spectator is overtly manipulated, this engagement is taken to a new level. Artists use various strategies to manoeuvre the spectator into a particular relationship with the work: the artist as host, as antagonist, as controller. How the spectator responds - as guest, as victim, or perhaps by turning hostile - and whether the spectator is aware of the trap being created, will be in question. The project will also ponder the purpose of manipulating the spectator. The act of deception, the camouflaging of devices, is perhaps intrinsic to the installation experience.

I am mapping out particular concerns that arise from creating and exhibiting installations in my own artistic practice, initially investigating set-ups that have encouraged/allowed the spectator to steal, to be attracted to danger, to unwittingly damage the work and participate in acts of violence. I expect to develop methods that are sympathetic to my own practice and test these out, recording and mapping the effects of the viewer's interaction and the potential possibilities inherent in soliciting a disorderly act from the viewer.

The project will serve to acknowledge and validate the transformative outcome the encounter has on both viewer and work, with supportive evidence.