Joining the dots was a game that was popular in the newspapers. The rules of the game were simple. The challenge was to find the next number. The dots had a sequence of numbers beside them, and you went from one number to the next joining the dots together with lines until eventually a recognizable picture emerged. You were not told what the picture was all you could see was a lot of numbered dots. Only after a large number of the dots were joined together did it become possible to tell what the hidden picture would turn out to be.
In response to Odradek we left out the numbers and made a vast amount of dots. The participants were given a challenge to use their imagination and their skills by joining the dots their own way. The images that emerged were up to the audience and what their imagination could come up with. Three thousand dots were set up at random on three different walls of the studio and a box with 100 different coloured markers was put on a plinth, and the instructions “join the dots” was written on the fourth wall above the markers. The instruction was to join the dots using the markers provided. If the dots had been laid out in a predetermined way with numbers and strict instructions of how the dots were to be joined as in the game in the newspaper then the authorship would remain with the maker of the game and the joiner of the dots would have no authorship of the image, but by putting the dots around at random with no predetermined image and no numbers on the dots the authorship of the image was slightly blurred because the audience had to participate by deciding between a range of dots rather than just joining to the next highest number.
There was a certain amount of control over the images because the installation was located in a gallery and this affected the quality of the images produced, if the installation had been in a public area with no control the images would have been baser and of lesser quality. It was up to people to join them in whatever way they wanted. The only instruction was to join the dots. Some people joined them in a geometric way making triangles and four sided figures. One person made an elephant keeping strictly to the dots to enclose the form. Some made drawings making forms that were free of the dots, but used the dots as beauty spots or the pupils of the eyes. Some people drew their forms free of the dots. These forms looked more like graffiti than the ones that used the dots. Most people seemed to enjoy the activity which continued for the entire day. There were 3000 dots all black so there was no clue to the final outcome and there were no rules or boundaries only the individual’s imagination and how they could relate to the dots. The dots became a line, the line became a form. Just as Odradek exists between reality and imagination so he also exists between the reality of the dots and the forms that are created using the imagination.
In response to Odradek we left out the numbers and made a vast amount of dots. The participants were given a challenge to use their imagination and their skills by joining the dots their own way. The images that emerged were up to the audience and what their imagination could come up with. Three thousand dots were set up at random on three different walls of the studio and a box with 100 different coloured markers was put on a plinth, and the instructions “join the dots” was written on the fourth wall above the markers. The instruction was to join the dots using the markers provided. If the dots had been laid out in a predetermined way with numbers and strict instructions of how the dots were to be joined as in the game in the newspaper then the authorship would remain with the maker of the game and the joiner of the dots would have no authorship of the image, but by putting the dots around at random with no predetermined image and no numbers on the dots the authorship of the image was slightly blurred because the audience had to participate by deciding between a range of dots rather than just joining to the next highest number.
There was a certain amount of control over the images because the installation was located in a gallery and this affected the quality of the images produced, if the installation had been in a public area with no control the images would have been baser and of lesser quality. It was up to people to join them in whatever way they wanted. The only instruction was to join the dots. Some people joined them in a geometric way making triangles and four sided figures. One person made an elephant keeping strictly to the dots to enclose the form. Some made drawings making forms that were free of the dots, but used the dots as beauty spots or the pupils of the eyes. Some people drew their forms free of the dots. These forms looked more like graffiti than the ones that used the dots. Most people seemed to enjoy the activity which continued for the entire day. There were 3000 dots all black so there was no clue to the final outcome and there were no rules or boundaries only the individual’s imagination and how they could relate to the dots. The dots became a line, the line became a form. Just as Odradek exists between reality and imagination so he also exists between the reality of the dots and the forms that are created using the imagination.
