West-Australian based artist collective 'pvi' made quite an impact in Australia in 2004 with the controversial artist action the TTS:Australia tour. This politically engaged art action held in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide over the course of a six month period was in part an attempt by the collective to explore the culture of fear that has proliferated in the Australian media in recent years.

pvi collective: Panopticon at The South Project
October 20-21, Wellington, New ZealandWest-Australian based artist collective 'pvi' made quite an impact in Australia in 2004 with the controversial artist action the TTS:Australia tour. This politically engaged art action held in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide over the course of a six month period was in part an attempt by the collective to explore the culture of fear that has proliferated in the Australian media in recent years.

pvi collective: Panopticon at The South Project
October 20-21, Wellington, New ZealandEscorting a paying audience to the main attractions of each centre; the Sydney opera house, the Crown Casino in Melbourne, in a purposefully fitted mini-bus fully laden with visual and audio devices to keep the audiences attention, the pvi group in true military fashion would dictate to an unwitting audience 'useful facts' about each attraction - facts that would indicate the potential of each attraction as a 'target'. Met with rave reviews in each centre the tts:Australia tour successfully bought contemporary art action face to face with a mainstream audience, and people were literally queuing up to participate.

Heading to Wellington, New Zealand, in October of this year as part of the South Project Gathering pvi collective will depart from the TTS to introduce another of their on going public intervention artworks: Panopticon.

As with tts, Panopticon is an artwork that attempts to question the various forms of social control that we live under in an increasingly anxious cultural climate. Encapsulated by the Panopticon, made entirely of used umbrellas, a member of the public is asked to put themselves at the mercy of the artists as they are directed through a public space with absolutely no sight, their only direction the sound of the one of the pvi's voices delivering instructions. Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art curator Vivienne Web explains: "instead of protection from natural elements, the umbrella is utilised as a barrier against invasive technology. Patently inadequate to the task, its very failure poetically highlights the extensive use of technologies of control within our public spaces - "

Following an intensive workshop for the South Project Gathering, pvi will bring the Panopticon out to face the elements. In a city notorious for its tumultuous weather it will remain to be seen whether pvi's Panoptican can offer some sort of protection. Pvi will be escorting the Panopticon down Cuba Street on the 21st of October. Starting at the newly opened Wellington Arts Centre the action will finish at the Wellington City Gallery and mark the end of the South Project's two day Gathering in Wellington.

All are welcome to view the spectacle but pvi are going to need willing subjects to guide. For more information on how to participate visit the South Project website. www.southproject.org or contact Nicola Harvey nharvey@craftvic.asn.au

Image caption: pvi collective, Panopticon: Sydney - privacy service. July / September 2004. Australia.