I produced
this work for an art event called Mind's Eye, included in the Paralympic Arts
Festival at the Homebush site in October 2000. Seven artists including myself
produced work to be experienced in a totally light-free space. I was concerned
with the act of observation and being seen to be observing.
The space
deprived participants of light-based information, while my work used
technology to extend the sense of sight into a range not normally possible.
The public participated in the installed experience whilst feeling their way
around the walls using their left hand, which was to be in contact with the
wall or barrier at all times! Whilst moving through the space they encountered
textural surfaces, sounds, air movement, etc. At around the mid-point they
then came upon the larger of my installed pieces, See Me See You. This
work about light in a light-free space used 14 banks of infra-red LEDs.
These invisible 'lights' bathed the apparently dark space with light at the
long end of the spectrum, beyond the range visible to the human eye but
detectable to my specially constructed camera and monitor system. This enabled
me to see (via six monitor screens) everything that was happening in the dark
space. Shuffling through a small set of curtains, the participants found
themselves in a control room, in which an observer was seated in front of the
six monitors.
The 'control room' was an installation, and the 'observer' a performer.
Materials:
14x 80-way LED infrared lights, 6 x CCD black and white cameras, 6x 15 in. monitors,
chair, table
Size:
160 sq. m. (surveyed); 9 sq. m. (control room)
