Scary, to Some Extent

One of the most interesting pieces covered in the lectures was Pilvi Takala, the woman who got a job as a trainee in the marketing department of a museum and began acting strangely, such as standing in an elevator for an entire day.  I think that the most interesting part of the exhibition was the varying reactions of those who stepped into the elevator.  Some of them acted confused, not understanding what was going on.  Others immediately caught on to what she was doing, and acted slightly bemused.  By “misusing” or simply not using the elevator for its intended purpose, she was able to glean some very interesting reactions that reveal how people act when their sense of normalcy and routine is challenged.  I searched her name online and watched the entire piece she produced, entitled “The Trainee.”  Another thing she does to challenge her coworkers’ sense of normalcy is asking to sit down at a table with a few other people, and simply staring into space for a long period of time.  At first, those around her try to ignore her, perhaps thinking she is simply resting.  However, as time goes on, they become more and more uncomfortable, and finally, the man sitting across the table from her asks, “You have to wait for something or…”  She simply brushes him off, telling him, “I’m doing a bit of thinking about what I should do… I’m just doing some brainwork.”  The man’s sense of routine was challenged.  He was not used to people simply staring into space for extended periods of time.  However, for the first part of the video, this challenge to his routine was not jarring enough to warrant him speaking up.  This adds yet another layer to her performance piece: it not only shows how people react to a change in routine, but also how reluctant they are to question it.  The people around her try to ask questions to come up with a logical explanation for what she is doing, such as asking if she is waiting for something.  People try to understand the things they encounter through past experiences, and if they do not fit into any of their past experiences, they try to force them to fit.  Throughout the day, she continues to tell everyone that she is doing “brainwork,” and they usually act confused, asking one or two follow up questions and then uncomfortably leaving her alone.  Even more interesting is the concerned note that was written about her which is displayed in the video.  Not a single person truly confronted her about why she was simply sitting there because they were nervous and confused at this challenge to their routine.  They did, however, send an email with the importance marked as “High,” presumably to the boss or office manager, questioning what the woman was doing there and why no one needed her to work.  The final line of this note sums up the varying reactions to her piece perfectly: “People at Tax not only thought this is weird and funny, but also scary to some extent.”  Actions that don’t fit into the norm or what we’re used to are exactly that: scary, to some extent.