Doormat tested in the name of art

Ian Thorley demonstrates "the absurdity of existence"

A man is receiving a council pay-out for walking on the spot on a doormat all day long in a Northumberland town.

Performance artist Ian Thorley from Derbyshire is being paid £1,600 for his week-long "Utilitarian Utopia" in Ashington's main shopping street.

He wears a badge stating he is a government doormat tester and the project aims to be "thought provoking".

It is part of a month-long visual arts event run by Wansbeck and Blyth Valley councils and Arts Council England.

'Very challenging'

Entitled "Temporary Address", the total cost is £43,000, with the two councils contributing £6,000 each.

Ian Thorley said of his doormat experience: "It's about drawing attention to, and invoking some sense of, the absurdity of existence and the things that we do."

Councillor David Nicholson, from Wansbeck District Council, said; "When I first heard about it I thought 'what on earth is going on?'

"But he's very challenging, and as time goes by this week he's making people think a little bit differently about the town and the space that we live in."