On the dole? Then you can push my bus (From Oxford Mail)

On the dole? Then you can push my bus

5:30pm Thursday 2nd April 2009 in News By Thom Airs

The bus was pushed through Istanbul in 2001

An artist is looking for a group of unemployed people to help push a mirror-covered bus along Cornmarket Street in the centre of Oxford.

Albanian Sislej Xhafa has been given permission to bring the vehicle into the busy pedestrianised street for a performance about the “complexities of tourism” entitled elegant sick bus.

The New York-based artist hopes to round up 15 people, who are not currently in employment or full-time education, to push the coach down the busy thoroughfare on the afternoon of Friday, April 17.

Modern Art Oxford will pay the bus pushers £15 each for their involvement, which is expected to start at 3pm and last about an hour.

Participants must be aged over 18 and physically fit. The event forms part of Modern Art Oxford’s Transmission Interrupted exhibition which features work by 14 contemporary artists.

The reflective bus, which made its first appearance in Istanbul, in 2001, will wend its way down Cornmarket Street with its engine turned off before making its way to Oxford Castle, in New Street, where it will remain on display until June 21.

Mr Xhafa, 38, has exhibited extensively in Europe, Asia and America, and specialises in sculpture, painting and performance.

He said: “My work, elegant sick bus, questions the complexities of tourism and its economic phenomena.

“I see the bus as a tool of tourism which reflects its surroundings.”

Suzanne Cotter, the curator of Transmission Interrupted, said: “Sislej Xhafa is a contemporary artist acclaimed for his highly imaginative works in the public arena.

“Xhafa combines a thoughtfulness about the contradictions of contemporary life, with a sense of spectacle and visual engagement."

The exhibition at the Pembroke Street gallery, which will be opened by elegant sick bus, will run until June 21. To join the performance, call the galley on 01865 722733.

For moreinformation, visit modernartoxford.org.uk tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk