[spectre] Lahr: DISPLACED_PERSONS, Rotterdam, 21 Sep - 14 Oct 2001

[Inke Arns]

From: christin lahr <lahr@khm.de>
Subject: DISPLACED_PERSONS
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 10:42:03 +0200


[DPsNtN] = DISPLACED_PERSONS say NOTHING to NOBODY
by Christin Lahr (D)


Opening: Friday 21st September 2001, 5:30 p.m.
Open: Friday 21st September 2001 till Sunday 14th October 2001, Tue-Sat
12:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. hours, Sun 12.00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., closed Monday
Location: Werkstad Las Palmas, Wilhelminakade, Rotterdam and realtime
on-line participation  HYPERLINK http://www.v2.nl/lahr



DISPLACED_PERSONS is a computer-controlled interactive environment linked
to the Internet. The installation focuses on human communication and the
tensions and overlap between physical and virtual spaces.  Unusual about
this work is that interaction is not generated by activity, but by doing
nothing at all: by non-action.

Inside a temporarily constructed room, bearing no particular features of
location, a room which could be anywhere so to speak, 8 loudspeakers emit a
computer-generated multi-vocal polylogue (a conversation between more than
2 interlocutors). The moment somebody enters the room the voices abruptly
break off, and will only resume when either everyone has left the room or
remains completely motionless.  The ABSOLUTE IMMOBILITY OF EVERYONE in the
room functions as the trigger for the sound installation. In order to
achieve the latter, the visitors are confined to a state of mutual
dependency (being wired/networking). Hence every individual can influence
the outcome, which affects the shared expression of ALL participants. In
this moment of joint inertia the visitors in the room "melt" into LIVING
SCULPTURES and thus become EXHIBITS by THEMSELVES.

When encountering the installation there are two roles to play: that of a
participant or of that an observer, i.e. respectively the choice of
entering the room or staying outside. Observation is augmented by
peep-holes, which allow the visitors outside to watch what is happening
inside. Nevertheless, the boundary between watching and being watched is
blurry: the observers might become OBSERVED OBJECTS in their own turn.

This dynamic can be observed from a remote standpoint via the World Wide
Web. 6 surveillance cameras can be controlled from the navigation page of
the Web site DISPLACED_PERSONS. In analogy to the interactive physical
environment, the live cams are collectively navigated by all the users
online as. Hence, every individual can influence the streamed video signal;
its images are immediately projected on a screen outside of the room. These
video "cuts" are direct testimonies of the clicking behaviour of the users
- a transcript of activity and of communication processes, if you will. In
addition, the online users can address the exhibition visitors via the
loudspeakers through a chat box with speech synthesis, thus mingling with
the  pre-fabricated polylogue on: HYPERLINK http://www.v2.nl/lahr .



Producers: V2_Organisatie (part of Las Palmas), Eendrachtsstraat 10, 3012
XL Rotterdam and Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes Rotterdam, Westersingel 9,
3014 GM Rotterdam.

With the kind support of: Las Palmas, International Centre for Visual
Culture & Media Technology, Rotterdam 2001, Cultural Capital of Europe,
Rotterdam 2001, Werkstad in Las Palmas, SkyberNet, Luna.nl, Martin
Behaim-Haus Foundation

CHRISTIN LAHR | *artist | +49 030/28599885 |
lahr@khm.de | http://www.khm.de/~lahr