Starting next week I have a project Thirty-Nine Or So To Do at Tanzquartier Wien as part of their Giving (up) instructions programme which is subtitled 'On precarious instructions for action'. The work - evolved from and remixing my previous SMS project Surrender Control - involves a series of SMS instructions sent to subscribers/participants over the eleven-day duration of the project.

Announcement info:

TIM ETCHELLS (UK). Thirty-Nine Or So To Do.

Thur. 26 May – 5 June. Interactive SMS Project.

Senders and receivers of an SMS text message normally know one another personally; every mobile-phone number saved thus tells the story of a friendship, acquaintance, of trust in advance. In his project Thirty-Nine Or So To Do, Tim Etchells, director of the famous performance group Forced Entertainment, uses this individual aspect of SMS communication on a group of people who are unknown to him. Over a period of 11 days, Etchells sends SMS instructions to various participants – whispers them, as it were, into the ears of strangers. The messages range from simple instructions, such as 'go outside', to complex invitations, such as 'take a risk'. In the field of tension between intimacy and anonymity, a space develops in which our everyday life can be perceived anew in the interplay of the instructions of the game and individual responsibility.Registration from mid April by SMS to mobile phone number +43 664 660 13 13, code word SUBSCRIBE (limited number of participants).

Production: Tanzquartier Wien, Giving (up) instructions - programme.