My reasons for embracing projects that intervene or intrude upon the ordinary in my community have evolved from three motives: the agitprop mystique, i.e. the notion that art is activism; reactions against the “modern art gallery”; and the simple need for human contact and community awareness.

The “authority”, the “power sources”, that many curators are resisting is present and tangible in buildings that exhibit art, in corporate headquarters and in places redolent with certain kinds of respect. Some arts workers resist this presence through “displacement”, i.e. art activities constructed and placed outside the gallery. As a curator for a regional public gallery, I have chosen to use various methods to “intervene” in my community, to enliven my gallery’s programme by moving outside the institution. Initially, when considering this “leap into the unknown”, several questions arise.

How do we displace art and ourselves from the institution and class traditions? It is important to secure alternative and inspirational sites that become exciting dramatic backdrops for the artworks. They set the stage for the drama. These sites should be able to draw and accommodate audiences.