“The Observed Observer"
Introduction
Artist Alexandre Dang works on raising awareness on contemporary and extemporal issues. The installation of “The Observed Observer” offers the visitor to experience something totally unusual. This work enables triggering questions for the visitor. It also creates an unusual link between the visitor and the work itself.
Physical description of the installation
To carry out this project, several connected rooms should be available. - The first room would consist in an exhibition room with pictures, paintings, sculptures or any kind of artwork. The public would enter the room and observe the artworks: while the public is visiting this first room, the public would be filmed by several video cameras placed in different places of the room. - The second room would display the recording of the first room on the walls with some gap in time (the film of the first room is displayed say 2 minutes later in the second room). When the spectator enters the second room, he would have a real striking effect: the visitor who is at the same time the actor (observer) and the subject (of observation). What the spectator doesn’t know at this step, is that he is again filmed in the second room (like in the first one)! - The spectator goes then into a third room where the video made in the second room is displayed on the walls. This triggers a striking effet. A new dimension is reached. Indeed, the spectator can now see the broadcast of himself in the second room, watching his moves and reactions in the first room. The spectator becomes aware that he has been filmed two times without noticing it, in the first and in the second room: that experience can eventually create some feeling paranoia: now the visitor is looking for the cameras in the next room. - Other rooms…
Remark: the exhibition in the first room could be linked with the thematic of CCTV etc… For instance, the artworks could be pictures of camera or sculptures of cameras or so
Symbolic and reflection on the project
This installation questions in particular the connections between both the public and the art work and also between the spectator and his own image. That can lead to a reflection on how does anyone sees and considers himself. The spectator can also observe the other persons in the room, introducing some kind of voyeurism. A striking feeling that this projects aims to create among the public is a feeling of paranoia: after seeing the exhibition, the spectator will most certainly fear the idea of being filmed outside without noticing it. At the same time, in this work, the public is constitutive of the installation itself. In the end, the installation is creating link between the spectator and the artwork. Eventually, after seeing that exhibition, everyone will pay more attention to the video surveillance that is nowadays very common. Indeed, CCTV has become a huge contemporary phenomenon.
Remark: A similar but different work would be the following: The installation would consist of two connected rooms with a special configuration for the walls: they should be designed to have holes of the size of the pictures exposed in the first room. This first room would also consist in an exhibition where the installation starts. The pictures displayed would actually be set up like “one way mirrors”, enabling the public of the second room to observe directly the observer of the pictures in the first room, through the pictures. Indeed, the one way picture system is perfectly fitted for such an experiment, and the visitor in the first room, would become the artwork for the viewer in the second room!
Contact: Artist: Alexandre Dang Rue de la Chasse Royale 7 1160 Bruxelles Belgique
info@dang.be www.alexandredang.com phone: 00 32 4 87 17 17 18
“The Observed Observer"
Introduction
Artist Alexandre Dang works on raising awareness on contemporary and extemporal issues. The installation of “The Observed Observer” offers the visitor to experience something totally unusual. This work enables triggering questions for the visitor. It also creates an unusual link between the visitor and the work itself.
Physical description of the installation
To carry out this project, several connected rooms should be available. - The first room would consist in an exhibition room with pictures, paintings, sculptures or any kind of artwork. The public would enter the room and observe the artworks: while the public is visiting this first room, the public would be filmed by several video cameras placed in different places of the room. - The second room would display the recording of the first room on the walls with some gap in time (the film of the first room is displayed say 2 minutes later in the second room). When the spectator enters the second room, he would have a real striking effect: the visitor who is at the same time the actor (observer) and the subject (of observation). What the spectator doesn’t know at this step, is that he is again filmed in the second room (like in the first one)! - The spectator goes then into a third room where the video made in the second room is displayed on the walls. This triggers a striking effet. A new dimension is reached. Indeed, the spectator can now see the broadcast of himself in the second room, watching his moves and reactions in the first room. The spectator becomes aware that he has been filmed two times without noticing it, in the first and in the second room: that experience can eventually create some feeling paranoia: now the visitor is looking for the cameras in the next room. - Other rooms…
Remark: the exhibition in the first room could be linked with the thematic of CCTV etc… For instance, the artworks could be pictures of camera or sculptures of cameras or so
Symbolic and reflection on the project
This installation questions in particular the connections between both the public and the art work and also between the spectator and his own image. That can lead to a reflection on how does anyone sees and considers himself. The spectator can also observe the other persons in the room, introducing some kind of voyeurism. A striking feeling that this projects aims to create among the public is a feeling of paranoia: after seeing the exhibition, the spectator will most certainly fear the idea of being filmed outside without noticing it. At the same time, in this work, the public is constitutive of the installation itself. In the end, the installation is creating link between the spectator and the artwork. Eventually, after seeing that exhibition, everyone will pay more attention to the video surveillance that is nowadays very common. Indeed, CCTV has become a huge contemporary phenomenon.
Remark: A similar but different work would be the following: The installation would consist of two connected rooms with a special configuration for the walls: they should be designed to have holes of the size of the pictures exposed in the first room. This first room would also consist in an exhibition where the installation starts. The pictures displayed would actually be set up like “one way mirrors”, enabling the public of the second room to observe directly the observer of the pictures in the first room, through the pictures. Indeed, the one way picture system is perfectly fitted for such an experiment, and the visitor in the first room, would become the artwork for the viewer in the second room!
Contact: Artist: Alexandre Dang Rue de la Chasse Royale 7 1160 Bruxelles Belgique
info@dang.be www.alexandredang.com phone: 00 32 4 87 17 17 18