In a typical museum, art hangs on stagnant walls, and a barrier surrounds the piece so museum-goers don’t disturb the work. Visitors silently stroll through the exhibits, careful to avoid disrupting anyone else’s experience with the art. However, a local show now encourages interaction between audience members and art by pulling visitors right into the pieces.

As a companion of the ongoing exhibit “Without You I’m Nothing: Art and Its Audience,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago artist Kirsten Leenaars will film a soap opera based on the MCA and the audience’s interactions with the exhibit. Using museum staff and visitors as the cast, the project “On Our Way to Tomorrow” begins filming on March 1.

While the exhibit started in October 2010, a series of interactive experiences by artists began in January, aimed at highlighting the participation aspect of the exhibit. Tricia Van Eck, the exhibit’s curator, approached Leenaars about getting involved because her filmmaking style directly involved participants. According to Leenaars, the plot will revolve around the museum activities with scripted parts already given to staff members. Visitors to the museum will act out improvised storylines, read lines and determine plot twists as the soap opera continues.

“I spent a lot of time at the museum doing research and getting an understanding of how the museum functions,” Leenaars said. “I took a lot of notes from that to come up with a basic storyline, and then I’m also really looking at soap operas and [their] structures, like conflicts and power struggles. In the end I don’t want it to just be an inside joke about the museum. I want it to be something anyone could relate to.”

Leenaars said her work is a good fit for the exhibit because it promotes art as an active experience rather than passively observing. The soap opera’s backdrop, the actual exhibit, shows how art has changed throughout the past 30 years.

“The show begins in a historical manner tracing the attempts of artists since the ’60s—a time of anti-establishment—to not be involved in a gallery or museum but go directly to the audience,” Van Eck said.

According to Van Eck, much of Leenaars’s film will analyze the museum’s role in the contemporary art world. A museum is a public place people visit to have a private experience with a work of art, and the soap opera will highlight the convergence of those opposing worlds, Van Eck said.

Along with bringing her art directly to audiences, Leenaars pulls the audience straight into her project. Rena Sternberg, member of the MCA’s women’s board, found out about the project and was interested in meeting Leenaars. She offered to be involved with the show, expecting nothing to come of it, and now has a scripted role. When Sternberg approached the filmmaker about bringing an art tour to observe the work in process, Leenaars replied by saying she’d also write the art tour into the script.

“I think it’s great because the whole show is about being interactive and being involved, and I think it is one thing the museum is trying to establish in general,” said Sternberg, who thinks pulling in real people instead of actors as the cast will have a greater effect in the piece. “It’s more authentic this way.”

Leenaars said she enjoys working with people because it’s an unpredictable experience. Building relationships and trust with strangers to create something is exciting for her as she works. She said she’s looking forward to contributions from visitors and involving their original ideas for the plot line.

“I hope it will be funny and at the same time, despite it being a soap opera, I hope it can also give a little insight into how a museum actually works,” Leenaars said. “I think a lot of people who go to museums don’t really know what it really takes to get things up and running. It’s a playful way to give a little more insight into that world.”

Filming for “On Our Way to Tomorrow” begins on March 1 from noon to 7 p.m. and continues from March 2 to March 6 from noon to 4:30 p.m. and March 8 to 13 from noon to 7 p.m., at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. For more information on the project, visit MCAChicago.org.