Review of Next To You by Marika Hedemyr
Described as a mixed-reality guided tour, Next To You is available to experience by downloading an app, plugging in your headphones and heading to Korsvagen, a central intersection for public transport in Gothenburg. The idea that a site-specific public artwork can operate through an app is quite intriguing, so this afternoon I headed out to see what it was all about.
As is common in gaming, Hedemyr allows the participant’s autonomy by offering choices in the direction they go. As a ‘mixed reality’ experience it really delivered as what was happening around me live and what had been recorded (as video on my screen/ ambient sound in my headphones) became very confused. At specific points the listener is asked to follow ‘that child’ or ‘the woman in black trousers’, and a surprising treat is offered when she informs the listener that there is free chocolate waiting for them at the coffee stand, all they’d have to do is go ask for it.
Something I felt was less successful was the way certain instructions imposed a performativity on the part of the listener that I personally didn’t feel comfortable enough to engage in, such as standing on a granite block bench by a bus stop. I felt that these instructions breached a boundary in which the self-conscious participant was asked to be a non self-conscious performer in a public space.
Overall I was impressed not only by the inventiveness of the format but by the rigorousness with which Hedemyr explores the context of Korsvagan. She is a skilled storyteller, able to delve into the recent and ancient history of the site while connecting the narrative to current issues of homelessness, migration and belonging in the city of Gothenburg.
Part of the GIBCA Extended programme