Aaron Williamson

Presented in city centre shopping areas, Demonstrating the World takes the form of a durational public performance disguised as an everyday consumerist demo.

In Demonstrating the World, Aaron Williamson explores the ‘alien’ or ‘other’ through an absurdly elaborate, live reinterpretation of YouTube ‘How-To’ videos. Drawing from this contemporary archive of ‘folk performance’, Williamson enacts everyday tasks such as opening a cupboard, removing a jacket, or sitting on a chair, with detailed step-by-step instructions. He illustrates the required posture, hand-shapes and describes the shifting of muscular tension – both reinforcing and destabilising their apparent familiarity.