“take it or leave it”©2006
Aliki Polydor LED lighting interactive project, could best be translated in italian as “immediatezza o rinuncia”©2006
An overview
Today the senses are weakened and lacerated because technology and progress make all processes dramatically explicit. Senses are neutralized and we lose our capacity to discriminate. We need to reflect on that…
and maybe work on ourselves.
I designed and set up this interactive polisensorial installation in a church. Why did I decide to project this particular film on the crucifix? My intention was to involve “Christ” in our worldly tormented life as well as in the life of the protagonists in the film. The background soundtrack, with its syncopated rhythm was meant to emphasise the dramatic context of our lives today, and that of the film’s protagonists, in particular. I purposely added a pink filter on the film projection to focus on life’s duality “la vie en rose” on the one hand, and the contrasting theme of the plot which is sad.
The soft white wall surrounding the choir further accentuates the visual impact thus creating an added sense of privacy and records the feeling of a confessional zone. I wanted to draw attention on that instant of expectation, meditation that precedes confession. A momentous “alone with oneself and one’s thoughts”.
The atmosphere of the church is left semi-dark emphasizing its mesopic aspect, with dimmed LED lighting. The visitor proceeds to find out what is behind that white (RGB LED lit) wall. There, behind that wall, an experience awaits to be lived.
The moment the visitor sets foot on the purposely-designed orange platform, the LED lights embedded in the platform light up to trigger a dialogue between a man and a woman on the provided headphones. The fragrance is there, and the exchange is sensual.
In this dialogue the man and the woman simulate intimacy although they have only just met… At the end of their three-minute conversation we find out that they met only twenty minutes ago…
Aliki Polydor | copyright 2006
