This haunted fairground of an exhibition has its heart in the right place. But that is not enough. Called The Delusion, it is a woolly mess of platitudes and phoney dialogue. Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley is worried about the polarisation of online discourse and 21st-century politics. Aren’t we all? But the remedies offered are confused, and the attempt to create a free, open discussion is stymied by its coercive tactics.
You can’t say you weren’t warned. A huge text at the beginning explains the artist’s “Terms and Conditions”, including the instructions to “Join others, experience this together”, and to “talk, share, listen and question out loud”. Do I have to? Yes. As I look at an arcade-like machine in a cabinet behind a glass door, someone asks me firmly, “Did you open the door? Well, you should open it.” So I open it, answer some questions in the negative and am told off again, this time by the machine, for holding back.
