Dummy Button
2013
Welcome to Dummy Button. This is the future. The currency of choice is time, and you must trade in Periods. Enter now, and boost, BOOST, BOOST!
Loops and circuits of time are in constant flux; each of us is anchored to time by moments, structures, and fictions. But now you can enter a place where time is horizontal, vertical or backward; it stops, starts and eradicates itself. Dummy Button is experienced as a perpetual ‘now’ with the future only three minutes away, just in front of your nose. Here time is controlled by supernatural beings that embody its myriad temporalities. These are the Time Dealers, and none shall pass without making the deal of a lifetime.
Take a risk on how long to spend inside Dummy Button. Your first decision frames your future: one, two or three Periods? It is only once inside that you will know if you chose enough time, or too much. Do you want to get the full experience, or just show up and take a look?
How then does this Dummy Button activate the audience? Push the button and see what happens to others in the space – nothing or everything is possible. You are dealing in time, but your gamble only pays off if luck is stacked in your favour. How much can you boost it? To the max? You watch, you listen, you play, you trade, you cheat, and you try your luck. Trials begin and end in each Station, hosted by your Time Dealer. They set and re-set your lifetime, and encourage you to follow instructions to boost your luck.
Have we got time for you? Everyone is welcome here, at least for a Period!
Dummy Button was a commission for "The Bet – an examination of doubt, contingency and meaning in economy and society" a joint project of KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Berliner Festspiele, supported by Arts Council England.