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Written down by Pat Binder and Gerhard Haupt, based on an interview with the artist.
While preparing my project for the Biennial I was told that I would be given a room at a "zero" in Havana. The picture that came to mind within the context of the idea of such a "zero" was a bed, which is a place where one lives, dies, reproduces and ultimately spends many hours of one's life. My proposal back then was that people associate a word with this image and write it on the surface of a photograph so that during the course of the days a collective text is created. At the same time, a webcam would film everyone's actions during this time, continually documenting the creation and development of this collective text on a website. The intention was to bring an individual, personal action that is precisely localized to a specific, geographical spot onto an anonymous spot in cyberspace and to establish communication. I had proposed intervention from people outside via the Net, but I was told that it would not be possible because it would be dangerous if everyone everywhere wrote down their opinion. So I decided not to do it.
In addition, there was a technical problem and the filming process was interrupted when the webcam got stuck. As the most important thing was the sequence that could have been created, I felt it was no longer meaningful to continue the filming after the interruption, because a "hole" would have remained. Besides, the participation of the people here was much greater than I had expected. In fact, the starting image is almost completely filled with inscriptions. I think in two days it will no longer be recognizable.
In my next work for this series, where I will attempt to connect real space with the virtual one, I will consider this work's positive experiences as well as its mistakes. It has become very clear to me that I am more interested in the way in which information on the Net materializes - the flow, the codex, the language behind it - than the image itself seen on the monitor. I think it all should be part of the artistic intention.
(Translated from the German version by Rebeccah Blum)
See the web site of the project
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Photos right 1, 2, 4: Gerardo Suter
Interview, translation, portrait, photo right 3:
Gerhard Haupt & Pat Binder,
Universes in Universe |
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