This video installation consists of a two-channel video on opposite walls. The videos, one a front view and the other a back view of the same scene, are of 52 people who were paired with a stranger to engage in a dialogue about their experience of loneliness. I attempt to cultivate a participatory and affective element through the presence of two conversation chairs between the two-channel video, which are projected on opposite walls. By asking only two viewers at a time to sit in the same chairs that are present in the video, is to ask them to connect with the narratives on screen and, in the gaps of narrative (when there is a blank turquoise screen), to consider echoing the experience on screen with the person sitting next to them. The viewer’s participation in this work is minimal and subtle. It is about the physical proximity to the person next to them (their bodies are literally touching, shoulder-to-shoulder), being alone in the room together (only two people at a time can enter the darkened room), and about engaging with the stories of loneliness that transpire before them. 

To view the video click on the link below:



Tête-à-tête, 2019

Belonging–Be-longing–longing.

As the word deconstructs, it begins to highlight its inherent complexity, its paradox. Belonging promises connection, community, safety, togetherness, being ‘at home’ with others and with oneself. Whereas longing connotes craving, reaching, striving, a state of discontent with what is now, an unfulfilled need.Longing for more, longing for better, longing for enough. Longing is loneliness.

Be-longing speaks to the post-relational context in which we live. Our human relations are disrupted and diffused by technology’s optimistic promise for us to connect, and thereby, belong. What does it mean to belong in this hyper-networked, cyber-capitalistic post-communal society?

This work formed part of my Masters (MAFA Wits) exhibition in April 2019 at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. The work is an interactive neon sign which engages the semantic tension of the word and very concept of belonging. The sign is triggered by pressure sensors – the ‘be’ is only activated when there are two or more people seated on the bench in front of the sign and when there is only one person or no one on the bench, only the word ‘longing’ shines bright. Through the interactive nature of the work, the viewer is invited to experience the act of isolation and togetherness and its implications.

Artwork details:
Longing to Be, 2019, Interactive neon light, bench with cushion, five pressure sensors, 1460 x 175 mm (neon), 2200 x 300 mm (bench), Edition of 5

LONGING TO BE, 2019

From 2017-2018, I staged six performative interventions (or ‘situations’ as I call them) in different scenarios – in public space, online, in a gallery and in a studio – where people engaged in dialogues about loneliness. Each iteration was different and brought about its own set of complexities, difficulties and potentials.

This is a book of transcripts of 257 interviews (106 people interviewed in person and 151 online written interviews) collected over the six situations. The book comprises 1120 pages, and so is thick and heavy and hard to manage. The weight of the book suggests the weight of the stories, and the act of navigating this awkwardly large book implicates the viewer in the difficulty of the topic.

This work formed part of my Masters (MAFA Wits) exhibition in April 2019 at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. It is part of the Jack Ginsberg Collection for Book Arts at Wits Art Museum in Johannesburg

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Anthea Pokroy