young british designer dash macdonald has sent us images of his project ‘in your hands‘ which he performed as part of the ars electronica festival in london last month.

in your hands by dash macdonald

‘in your hands’ is a performance and accompanying video where remote-controlled roller skates place the artist’s fate in the hands of the audience, creating a situation where ethical parameters are challenged. humour and spectacle are used to lure the participants into the thrill of the event while distracting them from what is really happening, namely a subversive social experiment which questions how far people are willing to go to seek their own enjoyment.

the skates are custom-made and work on a similar principal to a remote-control car. each skate is attached to a machined aluminum body which houses a DC motor that drives the rear wheels and a servo motor that steers the front trucks. both are connected to a remote controller offered to the audience, allowing them complete control over the direction and speed of the artist.

in your hands by dash macdonald

for each performance, the artist wears a customized costume and helmet and constructs an obstacle course, encouraging the participants to conform to a set of rules while providing incentive to deviate. the action of the participants is then documented on video.

in your hands by dash macdonald

the project was inspired by social psychology experiments such as the stanford prison and milgram experiments that took place in the 60’s and 70’s, which exposed human weakness in the face of authority through a concealed steering process.

dash has participated at designboom’s mart exhibitions in the past. we also featured his ‘unfisnished objects‘ project back in 2006.