THE only time you might stare into someone's eyes for 3 minutes while holding hands is if you are deeply in love. It is a little unsettling, then - at least initially - to find yourself locked into a mutual gaze with a performance artist you've never met before. And she's belting out Judy Garland's pop hit Somewhere Over the Rainbow at you. And you're in a chapel.

This odd moment of connection forms the basis of FK Alexander's festival show, in which she effectively duets with Garland, singing over a recorded track of the troubled American musician's last live performance with backing from noise-rock band Okishima Island Tourist Association.

Even for this eclectic festival programme, Alexander's piece defies genre. More than one person at The Spire remarked that it was unlike anything they'd over witnessed. Guests sat on chairs around Alexander until they summoned the courage to stand on an "X" on the ground. This was Alexander's cue to grip the audience member by the hand, begin the eyeballing and launch into the song.

The results of this experiment - that's what it feels like - are intriguing. On one hand it acts as a kind of test for the modern age. With the constant distractions of the internet and social media it can feel harder than ever to engage with the immediate world around us. If you don't manage to stay "in the moment" during this performance, and the tunnel vision of Alexander's raw intensity, you're truly screwed.

There is also an interesting question of intimacy. On one hand you feel like you've shared some kind of unique bond with Alexander - helped by her strategically-timed winks and, at the end of the song, a peck on the cheek - but you are always aware that she performs the same routine with every audience member.

This paradox seems designed to play with the mass-produced images we witness every day on the internet, television or advertising. No matter how much we are supposed to connect with these messages, no matter how much we want to, a certain distance is always inevitable. It's the same with audience and performer; a barrier exists between the stage and crowd, and even when it's broken down by innovators like Alexander it only goes to remind us of the inherent oddities of performance.

(I Could Go On Singing) Over the Rainbow poses more questions than answers, but that is what genre-defying, thought-provoking art should do.