ROBERT HAIS
Intervention Vienna
During a visit to Vienna I came in contact with the art group TOS, Theatre Open Spece, at WUK (Werkstaetten - und Kulturhaus) and ended up taking part in an intervention as a guest artist.
TOS deals with the question of what role the individual plays in the whole, the individual in an urban fabric of actions and relationships, and consequently what can and can change when we perceive through movement. Similar to a troop unit TOS exercises in the field manoeuvre in the form of community movement.
With a short introduction to the methodology and discussion of the planned action we found ourselves in a busy junction in the north-west corner of the city centre. Subway, buses, trams, cars all meet at the venue where we all interconnected and “played” of the movement between the busy public, going on about their daily work, hurrying to or from work, as well as reacting to all the other participating in the intervention, non verbally only through movement.
The intervention went on for approximately 15-20 minutes before the police came and called for backup, which was our cue to leave. No one was arrested during this intervention, this time, but that happens on a regular basis as the right-wing, nationalistic government has implemented a strict control of artistic expression within the public spaces.