Comfort Zones, 2012-13
Series of events in the showrooms ok IKEA, Manchester, organised without permission.
Over two years, I invited a number of artists, academics, and architects to do lectures, performances, and reading groups in the showrooms of an IKEA store in Manchester, with no permission arranged. 4 symposia took place, and one additional event happened in IKEA, Beijing, China. The events themselves became a performance, us having to carefully navigate this commercial space, and move on to a new ‘room’ whenever a member of staff asked us to move. We utilised the fact that we could not be thrown out unless enacting explicit ‘wrongdoing’. Over the course of a day, contributors would speak, perform, or lead conversations. They had been asked to loosely respond to the theme of ‘comfort zones’.
Contributors have included Andrea Francke, Dave Beech, David Osbaldeston, Homeshop, Jack Mcconville, James Hutchinson and Jonathan Dronsfield.
Documentation of rehearsal and performance of the Chinese national anthem; initiated by artist Guo Hao as part of the 4th Symposium on Comfort Zones, held at IKEA, Beijing.
Replacing the product's tags.
Jack Mcconville performs Kafka's The Metamorphosis in an IKEA display bedsit as part of the 2nd Symposium on Comfort Zones in Creative and Curatorial Practice at IKEA, Manchester, August 2012.