(Online Activity – watching and analysing a street interview format, 1+ hour)
For this impulse I focused on one specific format Paulus Goerden uses frequently: street interviews. Instead of analysing his account as a whole, I watched one reel closely and treated it like a small case study. The reel is titled “Zitate aus der Kunstgeschichte auf der Straße 🥰” and shows Paulus approaching a passerby and asking her directly why people choose to ignore a specific everyday installation.
This reel is interesting because it makes something visible that is usually invisible in my research: the moment of interpretation. When I photograph everyday installations, I capture the result, an arrangement that already exists. But I rarely capture the social process around it. Paulus does. In this reel, the installation is not only shown as an object in space. It becomes a trigger for conversation, disagreement, humor and negotiation.
The structure of the interaction is simple. Paulus starts by asking for permission and then asks a clear question: why does nobody pay attention to this “construction”? The woman answers honestly and pragmatically: she does not see it as an art object. For her, the reason is contextual. She assumes it is related to moving boxes and the fact that people constantly move in and out. This answer is extremely valuable for my thesis because it shows how strongly interpretation depends on everyday logic. She does not analyse form, she analyses function.
Paulus then follows up with an important question: what would need to be different for her to perceive it as an artwork? This question is basically a direct version of my thesis topic. It forces the viewer to articulate their own internal criteria. And what happens next is even more interesting: Paulus tries to connect the installation to art history. He mentions minimalism, simple forms, colors, stacked shapes. In other words, he tries to re-frame the everyday installation using a cultural reference.
The moment another passerby joins and jokes about the address label (“the artist left his signature”) is also important. It shows how quickly people switch between seriousness and humor when confronted with ambiguous objects. It also shows how social interaction itself becomes part of the framing. Suddenly, the installation is not only “boxes.” It is a shared moment between strangers.
What I find most relevant is that the reel demonstrates how easily the interpretation can shift once a label is introduced. Paulus calls it “Alltagsinstallation,” and the woman responds: “ja gut, ist in Ordnung,” and laughs. The conversation ends politely, and everyone moves on. But something has changed: the object has been temporarily upgraded. Not because it physically changed, but because a word was introduced. A name was given. A concept was offered.
This connects directly to my thesis question: what does it take for art to communicate without a frame? In this reel, the frame is not a gallery. The frame is Paulus himself. The frame is language. The frame is art history. And the frame is the social permission to talk about an object as if it matters.
The reel also shows something else: people are not necessarily unwilling to engage. They simply need a trigger. Without the trigger, they walk past. With the trigger, they participate. This supports the idea that everyday installations can communicate but they do not automatically do so. Communication happens when attention is activated.
For my own work, this impulse gives me a concrete method idea: I could incorporate short interviews or spontaneous reactions into my research, even if I do not want to become a street interviewer myself. The reel proves that audience perception is not abstract. It can be observed in real time. It can be recorded. And it can become part of the thesis material, not only as anecdotal evidence but as a structured research method.
Overall, this impulse helped me see that “framing” is not only spatial (museum vs street). Framing can also happen through conversation. A single question can function like a museum label. A single reference to minimalism can function like a curatorial statement. And a single shared laugh can turn an ignored pile of boxes into a temporary artwork.
Transcript (based on the reel)
Paulus: Darf ich Sie kurz was fragen? Ich frag mich, wieso hier jeder an dieser spannenden Konstruktion vorbeigeht und warum das keine Beachtung findet?
Woman: Weil ich das jetzt nicht als Kunstobjekt ansehe.
Paulus: Was fehlt Ihnen denn dafür, dass es als Kunstobjekt wahrgenommen werden kann?
Woman: Es hat einfach damit zu tun, dass hier die ganze Zeit neue Leute einziehen und ich denke, dass die Kartons von denen sind.
Paulus: Ja, aber das ist eine spannende Form, oder? Es hat sehr viel vom Minimalismus in der Kunstgeschichte. Die einfachen Formen, die Farben, das Aufeinandergestapelte.
Man (Passant): Der Künstler hat sich da verewigt.
Paulus: Der Künstler hat sich da verewigt?
Man: Ja, die Adresse steht drauf. (points with finger on the adress written on it)
(everyone laughs)
Paulus: Ich nenn das Alltagsinstallation.
Woman: Ja gut, ist in Ordnung. (laughs) Dann kann man’s angucken.
(they laugh and say goodbye)
Links
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUdMrLLDFJD/?igsh=ZHE3bWZmZmJqbmdp
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUoFC48DBPT/?igsh=MW93eXdwNHViZ3oxdw==
https://www.instagram.com/paulusgoerden?igsh=eTl5d2Z0b3dmOGY=
AI Disclaimer
This blog post was written with the assistance of AI.
