If I was to tell you that I spent last Sunday painting the interior walls of the lobby of the Art Gallery of New South Wales you would probably come to the logical conclusion that I was some sort of interior decorator. Many of the people who were at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Sunday, and saw me dressed in white overalls with paint roller in hand, came to this exact conclusion. If you were one of the people who came up to me and asked what I was doing, as many people did, I would have told you that I was taking part in a conceptual installation project by the innovative Bulgarian Artist Nedko Solakov, titled A Life (Black and White). Basically, what this project involves is two workers (one of whom paints in white and the other in black) continuously and simultaneously repainting the walls of the exhibition space round and round in an endless loop. At any one time half the wall space is painted white and half is painted black as each of the workers moves continuously around the space painting over the other worker’s colour – black over white over black over white and so on…

My original enthusiasm for the project was dampened slightly by the fact that I had to get out of bed at 7am on Sunday morning, thanks partly to CityRail conducting track work on my line. However, by the time I arrived at the Art Gallery, (on time) after downing a large cup of coffee, my original enthusiasm had returned, and then some.
Spouts of intense productivity were followed by several long breaks, during which time I took the opportunity to check out some of the other fantastic works on display and also catch a rather entertaining kid’s puppet show.

Throughout the day I was approached by many different people asking what I was doing, with some of whom I had rather lengthy but enjoyable discussions about art. One of the most amusing aspects of the day was the fact that most of the children who were visiting the gallery were far more interested in sitting down and watching my partner and I paint, rather than looking at the other works on display. At one point a lady came up to me and said that she thought I should be being paid for the work that I was doing, to which I replied that I was enjoying the experience immensely and that I would not want to be paid. I would have liked to have been able to explain to this lady that:

1. I volunteered to take part in the project because I am a great admirer of the artist and was extremely excited to have the opportunity to actually be a part of one of his artworks.
2. For me the experience was priceless and to put a monetary value on it would have reduced the significance and meaning of the experience for me, and would also have created a feeling of pressure and expectation that was not conducive to an enjoyable experience, or to adhering to the artist’s intentions for, and integrity of, the installation project.
3. Paying someone to work on behalf of the artist would probably alter the way the workers viewed their role and would consequently have probably caused the workers to execute their role in a way that was not in line with the artist’s intentions for the project.

In a world that is obsessed with speed and immediacy there is an ever increasing expectation that people work faster, harder and more often, as well as juggle far more social and recreational activities, but to what end?. For me, Solakov’s work is a solemn reminder of how important it is not to get caught up in the almost pre-prescribed process of life, and how important it is to take regular breaks from that process and view our lives from the perspective of a spectator, as opposed to that of a participant. Having taken part in Solakov’s project provided me with a rather startling example of how different people’s perception of something can be, depending on whether they are a spectator or a participant.

A Life (Black and White) is a life long project of Solakov’s and has been performed in various locations around the world, and presumably will continue to be performed for ever. I, for one, hope it will.

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Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of http://www.artmarketblog.com, writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectibles for Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications.