Touch to focus,
If you move away, it becomes blurry.
Semi-transparent membrane.

Anne Hamilton's «ONEEVERYONE» is based on the idea that human touch is a key means of communicating intimacy and privacy, that we learn about the world by reaching out and touching objects.

In 2017, approximately 530 members of the public rallied for Ann Hamilton in Austin, Texas.

Participants were anonymous Austinites, and everyone was welcome, from those who had received care to medical professionals who had provided care. Hamilton had all of his subjects stand behind a set made of a matte plastic-rubber membrane that resembled cloudy glass. The semi-transparent membrane brought subjects into sharp focus when touched and blurred them as soon as they were removed, connecting the senses of sight and touch and aiming to bring to light a new relationship between touch and compassion, the theme of the project.



As Hamilton later recalled, the set was separated by a semi-transparent membrane, and the only way to communicate was through voice, which was very similar to medical techniques.

More than 20,000 portraits of citizens were taken in this way, and a thick 900-page book was compiled, with each participant appearing at least once. There is no text. The book was printed on newspaper paper, so it was thick but light, like a Shonen Jump magazine or a phone book. This book was circulated from hand to hand among Austin citizens and later distributed for free, making it an amazing book project.

With Ohio State UniversityONEEVERYONE • Ohio

By the way, «ONEEVERYONE» was developed as a public art project in many ways other than as a book, such as a panel exhibition in the medical school corridors, essays by poets, philosophers and scientists published in a newspaper, and a website where photos can be downloaded for free.

No one could have predicted that the coronavirus would spread around the world immediately after this project, and that we would enter a society in which contact with others is so strictly avoided, from medical facilities to everyday life. Ironically, "ONEEVERYONE," which has the theme of "contact," is a symbolic art book for the COVID-19 era, when contact is prohibited.

Text by Osamu Kushida