Public announcements 3 by Laresa Kosloff is a series of pithy reflections, broadcast over the Gallery’s announcement system, about the role of public spaces, social mores and what influences our engagement with art in a distracted digital age. These statements are a mix of private thought bubbles, social-etiquette tips, remarks not meant to be shared and sayings whose meanings are open to interpretation. Broadcast at intervals throughout the day, Public announcements 3 impinges on the interpretation of other artworks, interrupts visitors’ thoughts and gets in the way of conversations.

By using the Gallery’s existing public address system, Kosloff draws attention to the art museum’s infrastructure. The artist’s announcements are interspersed between standard statements about guided tours, Gallery closing times and, on the rare occasion, safety notices – thereby highlighting how visitors’ movements are choreographed and surveilled within this space. Since Public announcements 3 mimics the tone of cultural institutions and shopping centres around the world, there is often a lag in comprehending its content as art rather than as ordinary bureaucratic declarations; this can even result in the work being completely ignored. Kosloff’s sound work explores varying levels of attentiveness to the public gallery’s civic functions.