An Obscure Camera brings dance, surveillance and spectacle to centre:mk this September
Shoppers walking through Milton Keynes this September might find themselves part of the show without realising it.
An Obscure Camera, a new interactive installation and live dance performance, takes over Midsummer Boulevard as part of MÓTUS Dance's Autumn Festival of Dance, MK Motion. Inside OFFSET Projects, visitors will be invited to look closely at the world around them. Outside, dancers will move through the everyday crowd, blurring the line between performance and ordinary life.
The project takes its name and its central idea from the camera obscura, the darkened room and live projection that fascinated Victorian audiences. An Obscure Camera updates that experience for a world shaped by digital observation and surveillance, asking visitors to think about who is watching whom and where the line between curiosity and voyeurism sits.
Performing outside the installation will be dancers from the Open University Dance Group, over 60s group Deep Roots Tall Trees, and professional company Drift, moving through a series of solos, duets and group pieces among the shoppers on Midsummer Boulevard.
Alongside the public performances, the project runs a mentoring and placement programme for young people. Participants get hands on experience across interactive technology, installation art and large scale performance, working directly with professional artists and experienced community dancers. It is built as an intergenerational exchange, with young people learning from performers who have been in the industry for years while contributing their own perspective to the piece.
Creative team Yael Flexer and Nic Sandiland said: "We can't wait to partner with MÓTUS Dance, Offset Project and our brilliant professional and community dancers to bring this project to life. It will be exhilarating to see this large, local cast move alongside shoppers while being viewed from inside the gallery. Prepare to be surprised and delighted."
An Obscure Camera performs at OFFSET Projects on Saturday 26 September at 2pm and Sunday 27 September at 12pm and 2pm, with entry free. It forms part of the wider MK Motion Autumn Festival of Dance 2026, which runs in Middleton Hall at centre:mk. The exact day for the main festival programme still needs confirming with MÓTUS Dance, as the release lists conflicting dates for that session.
The project is supported by Arts Council England and Milton Keynes City Council, with additional support from the Abderrahim Crickmay Charitable Settlement.