CCTV / Mirror, 2009
Max MSP and Processing custom software, CCTV cameras, microphones, webcam, speakers, projector
Dimentions variable
Your movement through the space affects and obstructs a grid of live CCTV feeds. These feeds are from CCTV traffic cameras located around the local district in which the installation is being presented in. The installation also generates an improvised city soundscape, also based on your movement, from sounds picked up by microphones placed by the CCTV cameras. This project tries address a critical use of immersive CCTV as well as opening a space through which spectators can make assumptions on their extented participation beyond the private space in which this display is exhibited. There are several levels of feedback which can be destinguished. There is a video feedback (remote feedback) which grabs visual stimulation from a specific external space and displays it in an endless loop, repeating this process over and over again. The grid of CCTV is also organized in such a way to produce a reflection of the spectator who is physically present in the space of CCTV output. Like with all mirrors, this is a local and physical feedback. There are obviously more elaborate levels of feedback the moment you start moving and interacting with the grid, affecting once again the display, framing what you are getting from these external spaces. The paradoxical function that this project offers of being a display and at the same time a reflection is an ongoing investigation. The intention of this experiment is to exploit the language of our narcissistic culture by deliberately using video feedback and conventional mirror displays in order to question what truly belongs to a reflection of the viewer and that of something external to the viewer's space of experience. My intention is not to clearly define the otherness experienced by this 'external' reflection but to explore the language exercized by our society regarding individualization and to simply measure the 'scale' of what might be understood as external, other, and beyond our social identity. I believe that by taking this first step we might be able to comprehend how much hospitality we need to grant towards the Other. This project was in collaboration with Andy McWilliams.
