Kiosk

The Kiosk, placed within public spaces, is traditionally built and Victorian in appearance. The intention is that the audience first recognise it at its face value, similar to that of an information point found at many train stations, high street corners etc, and therefore interact with it in a similar way. However, the KADN kiosk is ambiguous and suggestive of notions of exchange and simulation and in fact functions as a space for the transfer of information and the initiation of discussion, placing Kieren Reed and Abigail Hunt, as artists at the fulcrum point within a discourse and providing the audience with the opportunity to offer or take information.

An important notion of a kiosk is that the internal space is inherently small, yet a vast selection of merchandise is available. Also along with the idea of an information point, as in tourism, the person behind the window is the holder of a vast knowledge of information about very defined facts. In addition to this knowledge, a kiosk often holds resource information in the form of books, guides and leaflets and the means to direct someone towards other sources of information. The KADN kiosk contains, amongst other things, a collection of books, leaflets and guides, a small photocopier/computer, and the means for visitors to research, commission and view placards, banners, badges, rosettes and wristbands and other associated items related to expressing public opinion, demonstration and celebration.

The collection and display of items within the kiosk makes suggestions towards the human obsession to collect and order possessions, the idea of religious shrines, death and celebration as well as library and museum collections, tourist ephemera and consumerism. The items are on display within panels (much like those of shallow box framed traditional village notice boards and similar small shop display units). Recent projects for Reed and Hunt have been the development of related art objects, including simulated charity ribbon boxes, postcards, placards and banners, all of which are relevant to their ideas and are a continued valuable part of the project. Whilst the KADN kiosk functions in different venues, the items contained within it grow and diversify becoming in effect a classified and recorded museum collection of kiosk related ephemera.

The audience are able to visit the kiosk, either because they have heard about the project or because they simply come across it within a space. It has been deliberately constructed so it can be locked up safely and securely at night, but can also be dismantled easily in the manner of a ‘flat-pack’ structure – much like many of the kiosk structures it simulates. Documentation of the kiosk is also a vital element to the work. The project has almost a ‘performance’ element for which the kiosk itself acts as a tool to produce the work, finally being seen as an art object or relic after the events which happen in or around it.

Reed and Hunt’s concepts relate to the importance of the participation of the viewer and the collaboration between them as artists and their audience, as well as the blurred boundaries as to when and where collaboration happens, both with the audience and between other artists, be it directly or indirectly. One of their main interests is in exploring the idea of primary and secondary audiences. The kiosk project in its essence creates two different audiences – one which was directly involved in interacting with it and one which may only see the results of that interaction. This notion which is rooted in the very idea of collaboration raises many issues about public voices, agency and audience manipulation, and exploring it is one of the main aims of the work.

KADN Kiosk
Installation View
The New Art Gallery Walsall
2008