Work
Not to Scale
Maker Ant Hampton · Work date 2021 · Medium headphones · Role control · Experienced by the compiler 2026-07-26
Description
"Not to Scale is a full-length autoteatro performance which draws two participants into shared experiments and intertwined processes of drawing, erasing and listening. Guided by a binaural soundtrack, participants create a shared journey using pencil on blank sheets of paper. Crude doodles soon come to life in a comical and unsettling picture book narrative that plays constantly with the tension between creation and destruction, life and death, energy and entropy... by simply following the prompts as best you can, things start to happen: performance is triggered from even the smallest movement." Materials per the maker: "Headphones + pencil, paper and eraser. For two at a time." 50-55 min. Created with Tim Etchells.
Source. https://www.anthampton.com/nts_eng.html
On the medium. Binaural soundtrack, two participants at a table with pencil, paper and eraser.
NOT a phone work. Headphones, seated, table-based autoteatro for two.
Anatomy
Thirteen criteria after Lauren R. Beck. Each carries a source grade: M maker-confirmed, P published, F first-hand, I inferred by the compiler, ? not yet established. Definitions are on the anatomy page.
- Participants listen through headphonesyesP
Maker's materials list: "Headphones + pencil, paper and eraser."
- Participants move through space as part of the worknoI
Table-based work for two seated participants drawing on paper; nothing requires relocation.
- Audio technology is necessaryyesP
Participants are "Guided by a binaural soundtrack," so removing it ends the work.
- Site-, situation- or language-specificnoI
The maker names only materials and a pair of participants, no required place, circumstance or language.
- Engages with the history of a sitenoI
A drawn picture-book narrative with no real place or documented events.
- Created for an urban environmentnoI
A seated table work; nothing requires urban surroundings.
- Created as an artwork other than theaternoI
The maker frames it as "a full-length autoteatro performance" — a theatrical framing, with no other discipline named.
- Intended to be understood as theateryesP
The maker calls it an "autoteatro performance" and says "performance is triggered from even the smallest movement."
- Accidental real-world sights and sounds are importantnoI
A binaural score plus the participants' own drawings; the design draws on what the pair make, not on uncontrolled surroundings.
- Spectator must participateyesP
Participants draw, erase and "simply follow the prompts," creating the work's images themselves.
- Has live performers other than the participantsnoI
Autoteatro guided by a recorded binaural soundtrack for two participants; no performer is present.
- Involves game playnoI
Prompts and instructions but no objective or resolution state.
- Uses props other than the listening deviceyesP
Maker's materials require pencil, paper and eraser handled throughout.