The installation F O L D S is inspired by a theoretical examination of the correlation of the human body and the digital image.
The goal is to create virtual spaces, in physical reality, thereby not abstracting people from their own bodies and their relation to physical space around it. In contrast to the long pursued dream of virtual reality – to feel present in a synthetic world – the intent of F O L D S is not to transport the mind to a virtual environment, but to actualize the virtual in physical space and create a tactile experience.
Volumetric shapes and walls are created with light and fog, subdividing the space and remodeling it. Making these spaces shapeable through physical interaction with the body, creates a dialog between the body, the physical and the virtual. The perceived tactility influences the way, one moves through space, sometimes adapting to the constraints of the space, sometimes actively shaping the environment. These interwoven relations between space and the body reflect on the notion of Marc B.N. Hanson, who in his “New Philosophy for New Media”, describes such interactions as the very process that gives meaning to the arbitrary addressable space, that is the digital image.
The mirror is a central part in this arrangement it creates a virtual extension of both the physical and the digital. The room is not only expanded through the image in the mirror, but the light shapes are also cast back continuing the hapes in new directions and creating new spheres of interaction. The mirror is also opening new perspectives, literally reflecting on the relation of the body to the space.
In this total space, virtual and physical become one addressing mind and body to the same
extent and leaving room for interhuman interaction.
Master Thesis
Advanced New Media Studio Class
University of the Arts Berlin
Academic Adivsors
Prof. Joachim Sauter, Prof. Jussi Ängeslevä, Dr. Stephan Humer
Music
“Submerging Blue-Black” by Podington Bear (podingtonbear.com/)