FFF2 | Domini Public

A crowd of people standing in the middle of a square. They are observing, but also starring in, "Domini Public" (Public space), a work which elevates the viewer from a spectator to a performer, a player in a three-dimensional role-playing game which draws on Statistics for its rules while simultaneously resembling an anthropological, sociological, political and ontological experiment.

The participants are given earphones through which they are asked questions by a voice. The voice calls on the viewers to split into groups and sub-groups depending on choices they make, then assigns them the roles they will play—prisoners, guards and representatives of the Red Cross—in a reconstruction which is as revelatory as it is interactive.

The ‘audience’ remain mute throughout: their wordless gestures and choices, their actions and reactions, the route they trace through space are quite expressive enough. The multiple award-winning Roger Bernat has been staging this unique spectacle in open public spaces from Barcelona to Rio de Janeiro and London to Tokyo since 2008. Are you feeling up to a bit of silent, public confession?