‘WHAT’S my story?” asks the anonymous stranger taking up residence in a New York park. He films people’s responses: “You’re an artistic person who doesn’t really care what others think about how you dress”, “Your parents are intelligent people who are educated”, “You live in Brooklyn, read a lot of books, maybe have a cat.”

He asks his own name: Rob/Herman/Harry/John/Ralph/Kyle/Samuel come the responses. Finally – “I’m going to guess Josh.”

He is Josh Weinstein, in fact, a Brooklyn-based artist whose short film, Cross Examination, explores questions of identity by turning the traditional interview on its head.

It is one of a series of works, by four different artists, forming the Open Eye Gallery’s new exhibition, Until It Hurts.

At the most basic level, those questioned by Weinstein are responding to his physical appearance – he changes his clothes several times during the course of the experiment, appearing artistic in a neck scarf and business-like in a shirt and suit jacket.

More intriguing are the assumptions that seem to reveal something of the person who makes them. Is the gruff-voiced, bearded man who describes Weinstein as “a very caring person – although you don’t want to admit it” really talking about himself? What about the man who pulls a rueful expression while suggesting the artist is in love with someone who doesn’t love him back?

Just as interesting is your own response to the video. As the viewer, you’re in the privileged position of knowing Weinstein’s background, but that doesn’t prevent you from making similar judgments about the identity of those he questions.

Open Eye director Patrick Henry curated the exhibition from a selection of cuttings and notes he had been keeping of art works that had previously caught his eye.

When the Wood Street gallery’s forthcoming move to Mann Island was delayed, and there was time to slot in another exhibition, he went back through his folder of ideas to discover some of them had a thematic link.

All four works in Until It Hurts deal with the subject of personal identity, including the one the exhibition was named after, by German artist Sascha Weidner.

Weidner’s piece is a collage of photographs, individually pinned to one of the gallery walls.

While the overall structure is autobiographical, he seeks unusual scenarios and beauty in the small and detailed individual parts that make up the work as a whole.