by CHRISTINE REDFERN

If you’ve heard of Nadine Norman, it most likely happened during the 1999 media buzz around Call Girl, an interactive performance in Paris. She distributed cards that read: “Call Girl. 100% dialogue. Free encounters by appointment.” Those who called were received by Norman and eight hired actors in an escort setting she created at the Canadian Cultural Centre. The catchy concept attracted the attention of a broad and diverse public—even Reform MPs became aware of the Paris exhibition (we know this because they complained of how taxpayers’ money is spent on the arts).

Norman’s latest project, I’m available. And you?, is similar to Call Girl in that it reaches out to the public at large using multiple forms of communication, all the while mocking traditional advertising strategies. It’s a live situation where your position as a viewer is included, and the object of the work is the interaction that results. Every Wednesday night at the Musée d’art contemporain, where her art-ads are on display, Norman invites the public to submit their candidacy for a meeting with her. This can also be done online. After the first few weeks, a jury will select people to meet the artist in the museum, an event that will be simultaneously Webcast. The Mirror spoke to the loquacious Norman about availability.

Mirror: Tell me about the new work.

Nadine Norman: There are 11 photos and 19 videos. They’re like false ads that are real ads for my availability. But all of them are treating the use of media and the use of advertising to sell something that’s absolutely ambiguous—but on the other hand it actually exists.

M: And there’s the Web site…

NN: It’s one source or place you can meet the available woman. From the museum it sends you back to your own home where you can get online, or from online it will invite you back into the museum. There is a relationship between that which is public and private.

M: So the work isn’t confined to the museum?

NN: Normally in an exhibition you have this package deal—you walk in and there it is: the show is what you see. In this instance there’s a proposition that is set up, and within that construct your interaction, your voyeurism, your distance is what evolves the work and lets the work accumulate and unravel. The exhibition starts the moment the doors are open and what happens on the Web site or what happens in the space morphs the artwork itself.

M: And, as with Call Girl, you’ll also have the one-on-one meetings with the public in this exhibition?

NN: Yes, but here there is a huge difference. Call Girl starts out with a very sexy proposition, but in this situation it’s a little bit more personal. I’m offering my own availability—I am an artist, I am a woman. I have a certain kind of availability defined in relation to whoever wants to come, which includes women. Here the mirror of any desires that come together is based on what others bring to it. :

Nadine Norman’s I’m available. And you?
is at the Musée d’art contemporain and online
at www.iamavailableandyou.com until
Jan. 26, 847-6226 for info