FrenchMottershead

Shops

Shops invites customers and staff of selected Penzance shops to participate in an artwork. Customers
will be provided with an instruction after each transaction - whispered by sales staff or stamped on
receipts –specifying a time to return to be part of a group photo, which will be exhibited later in each shop.

Archive FrenchMottershead: Shops Performed Wednesday16 to Monday 21 August Penzance Town Centre

Operating in the centre of Penzance, Frenchmottershead organised group photographs of the customers of each of around
5 shops. Each shop-owner had been briefed to ask them back at a pre-arranged time, on the understanding that after it
had been developed the photo would be signed, framed and returned back to them for displaying behind the counter.

The process of taking the photo was very public, and became the most visible aspect of the performance, as traffic was
diverted and slowed and cameras clicked. All the photos were taken within a three hour interval on the Saturday of the
second tract weekend, and each took place as part of a very tightly choreographed sequence.

Whereas normally shops are taken for granted and seen as utilitarian places where transactions of money for goods
occur, the work, called ‘Shops’ seemed to force both buyer and seller to reconsider their relationship to each other.

www.frenchmottershead.com
Photos: Steve Tanner

Archie Browns Health Foods