a project that i suggested dealt with violent confrontations and the general reaction to the possibility of interfering in a verbally and/or physically abusive public situation. it was spawned after an actual situation i encountered on a saturday night near 6th street in austin. the incident involved a man and a woman standing near the street, the man standing very close to her and was loudly screaming in the her face, the situation seemed as though it could become a physical one at any moment. it was amazing to look around at a pretty crowded area and see that people were staring at the couple but no one had felt the need to approach them. me and the groups of friends i was with finally did which led to me getting a face 3 inches from mine screaming at me. shortly after we intervened however, the woman left.

at my suggestion we recreated part of this confrontation in the lobby of the undergraduate library. two students pretended to be a couple sitting down to study. they entered the room bickering already and slowly the arguing was very loud and there was shoving and throwing of items involved. the reaction from other students and faculty was surprising. everyone stared but only two people sitting close to the couple spoke up. eventually one of the students approached a security guard in the next room and the campus police were called.

the performance brought attention to public suspicion of situations that seem "unreal." No doubt many of the bystanders felt that the performance was not real and someone was playing a trick. it also underscored the idea that, generally speaking, pepole don't want to get involved in situations that don't directly seem to concern them even when a more harmful situation could have escalated.

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