Projects where artists give up or alter some crucial, tangible aspect of their everyday, non-artistic lives are always fascinating and particularly—if a little perversely—compelling. Artist Michael Landy enacted a drastic version of this in 2001 for London's Art Angel, when he systematically inventoried and subsequently destroyed every single thing that he owned in a lengthy public performance titled Break Down.

Marc Horowitz is in the process of doing something comparably extreme for a piece presented by our friends at Creative Time (our recent David Byrne edition to benefit the organization continues to fly off the shelves!). In this instance, however, Horowitz hasn't relinquished all of his worldly goods; his sacrifice, rather, is his free will—all of his agency—for a project titled The Advice of Strangers that will run for the duration of November 2010.

For the entire month Horowitz will base every one of his life decisions—from the totally trivial, to the momentous—on the online (and anonymous) votes of the public. Those who care to vote will have the final say on whether Horowitz grows a mustache or goes clean-shaven, how he votes in the November 2nd elections, how he conducts himself at work, what he discusses in therapy and much more. From the project website:

Each day, Horowitz will post the dilemmas he’s facing — from the seemingly mundane to the profound — for the public to vote on. The project, presented by Creative Time, tracks the results and follow the action and repercussions through edited video coverage. The Advice of Strangers constitutes a collaboration between artist and audience, comprised of anyone who visits the website and casts a vote, thus influencing the course of the project and Marc’s life at the same time.

It'll be fascinating as the project unfolds to see if those who participate really have Marc's best interests in mind. On the very first evening that The Advice of Strangers was underway, voters had him winding down by walking to 7-11, buying a 40 and drinking it on his way home—let's hope this isn't indicative of how events will transpire over the weeks to come.

You can follow Marc's progress (and have your own say in his future, if you so desire!) on the project's interactive website.