Part chat show, part psychiatric investigation Atomic brings the artists and the audience face to face. In an age of surveys, questionnaires and market research, can our identity be known by what we buy or what we say?
Three booths in CASCO gallery in Utrecht are connected. One booth is for the interviewer. It has a monitor, a pair of headphones and a microphone. By switching a button the interviewer can connect to one of the other booths. They have a pair of headphones, a microphone and a camera. When your booth is selected by the interviewer you can talk directly to the interviewer. When you are not selected you get to listen to the conversation between the other two booths.
At the entrance to the gallery each visitor is asked to fill in two forms. One lists their ten favourite pieces of music and is put on public display. The other is a secret that they have never told to another person. This is sealed in an envelope and left at the front desk with an attendant. Each visitor can then select whether they would prefer to answer or ask questions. When the appropriate booth is free the visitor occupies it for as long as they choose. The interviewer has a list of questions prepared by the artists which she or he may choose to use if she wishes. The questions explore the line between public expressions of taste/personality and the most private parts of our personalities. The conversations are private and are never recorded.
