Kate McIntosh's living installation Worktable opens at EMMA on 14 November. Visitors will receive safety goggles and a hammer – let the work begin

Worktable takes place in different rooms where the audience participates in the chain of events through different actions. The installation progresses according to a script created by Kate McIntosh in a rhythm set by the participants. Composed of everyday objects, the changing environment invites visitors one at a time inside the installation. Participants will receive instructions, tools and safety gear – we will hand you a hammer and you get to decide how to take things apart.

Kate McIntosh (b. 1974) is a multidisciplinary artist residing in Brussels. She works with installations, performance and theatre. Her work focuses on the physicality of both the performer and the audience, the manipulation of materials and objects, and the relationships with and within the audience. McIntosh has a constant fascination with a sense of play with the audience, theatre imagery and twisted humour. In Finland, the work of McIntosh was previously seen in 2012 when her performance-installation We Breathe was shown in Turku's Berner Gallery as part of the New Performance festival.

McIntosh is a well-known figure in the field of experimental performing arts. EMMA includes pieces breaking boundaries between art forms in its exhibition programme in order to strengthen its role as an interactive, bold museum. Worktable is the first performative, participatory installation shown at EMMA. The manner of experiencing the work differs significantly from the rest of the curated programme.

"Even though Worktable represents a format that is new to EMMA, it fits wonderfully into the themes of this year's exhibitions as a setting where a museum visit gains a surprising tone and the exhibition visitor gets to experience something out of the ordinary", reflects EMMA's Chief Curator Reetta Kalajo.

Worktable is realised in collaboration with the Baltic Circle contemporary theatre festival.

Kate McIntosh: Worktable, 14-25 November 2018

The work follows its own opening times as opposed to the museum's regular hours. More information on the work's opening hours. Entrance with a regular EMMA museum entry ticket.

Press images: https://kuvat.emma.museum/kuvat/Lehdistokuvat-Press/

Password: emmamuseum

We wish to thank:

Aalto University, Diamus, Espoo Music Institute, Helsinki Conservatory of Music, J-P Kuoppala, the Finnish Museum of Horology, LUOMUS, and a number of private individuals.

Concept and direction: Kate McIntosh

Production: Sarah Parolin

Produced by: SPIN

Worktable was commissioned in the frame of the event 'Performance Is a Dirty Work' funded by Roehampton University.

With thanks to: Bruno Roubicek, Hester Chillingworth, Caroline Daish, Palli Banine, Ant Hampton, Joe Kelleher, Tim Etchells, Adrian Heathfield, Simon Bayly