October 19, 2004
step inside
I swing, therefore I am
step inside, by Nathaniel Stern, is an immersive, multi-sensory environment that provokes us to re-think our selves as "collage[s] in motion," and challenges Cartesian notions of consciousness. step inside implies multiplicity and movement as intrinsic to our being; it asks viewers to explore the noise and stillness attendant on the performance of self. "I swing, therefore I am" (Elizabeth Ermarth, Sequel to History).
When 'stepping inside' the 3 x 3 x 3 meter interaction space, viewer-participants are immediately confronted with an amplified and echoed trail of noise. This, they'll soon discover, is the sound of each footstep they take, of all the footwork in the room. A video camera, opposite them and connected to the step inside software, reads their bodies, and separates them out from the background. However, instead of a video mirror, they see only a profile, and are disallowed a frontal reflection. This left-hand 'projection' fills their 2-D forms with white noise. The amplitude of the echoed footsteps controls the video's opacity. The 'result' becomes a variable wave of embodied noise. step inside is part of Stern's non-aggressive narrative.
Posted by jo at October 19, 2004 10:44 AM
