I’m gonna start a new topic here on the blog for things that I often think about - art projects - that I have neither the time nor the money to afford. Maybe someday these will become reality and grace the pages of We Make Money Not Art but for now they’ll just live here. If some wealthy art student wants to come in and rip me off, please feel free.
Today’s Art Project I Can’t Afford (APICA) is The Perception Machine (which, granted, is a lame name).
The Perception Machine is essentially three separate interconnected viewing rooms each with two rows of seats facing a large screen. The seats are placed so that all people have a clear view the screen and so that, and this is important, the screen can clearly see them.
The seats are filled in the first theater with people. A short film starts, made of a variety of footage beginning with people doing totally familiar and comfortable things (family shots; dudes watching football; a wedding, etc) and then slowly transitioning into slightly more edgy material (passionate kissing; someone getting punched; a child crying) to extremes (a clip from a porn; a shot of a person who lost their leg in a bomb; etc). This goes on for say five minutes.
The film stops and the group of people is shuffled down the hall (which is actually a uturn) where they’re seated in a similar set-up. However, this time what they realize immediately as they sit down is that they are watching another group of people sitting down where they just were. The first group then proceeds to watch the second group experience the same footage they watched. Having just gone through the experience, there would hopefully be an interesting reaction to watching/experiencing the others go through the same feelings.
The film stops again. The first group then shuffles to the next (and final) room, yet another viewing station. This time, they sit and watch themselves watching the second group watch the video while hearing the audio from the video. It’s a recording of what just happened in the prior room.
They leave the installation with a new take on what it means to watch and to be watched.
Interesting?
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