Under Scan
Relational Architecture 11
Under Scan is an interactive video art installation for public space. In the work, passers-by are detected by a computerized tracking system, which activates video-portraits projected within their shadow. Over one thousand video-portraits of volunteers were taken in Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Northampton and Nottingham by a team of local filmmakers. For its London presentation in Trafalgar Square, Tate Modern filmed over 250 additional recordings. As people were free to portray themselves in whatever way they desired, a wide range of performances were captured. In the installation, the portraits appear at random locations. They "wake-up" and establish eye contact with a viewer as soon as his or her shadow "reveals" them. As the viewer walks away, the portrait reacts by looking away, and eventually disappears if no one activates it.Every 7 minutes the entire project stops and resets. The tracking system is revealed in a brief "interlude" lighting sequence, which projects all of the calibration grids used by the computerized surveillance system.
The piece was inspired by representation en abîme, where the portrayed make eye-contact with the viewer, - as found in works by Jan Van Eyck, Parmigianino, Velázquez or Leon Golub. Other references for this work include the post-photographic device described in La invención de Morel, written by Adolfo Bioy Casares (1940) and the ghostly portraits created by Gary Hill, Lynn Hershman-Leeson, Paul Sermon and Luc Courchesne.
| Name in spanish: | Bajo Reconocimiento |
| Year of Creation: | 2005 |
| Technique: | Robotic projectors, media servers, Pani 12kW projectors, scissor lifts, computerized surveillance system, custom software |
| Dimensions: | Variable dimensions |
| Keywords: | database, indoor, interactive, outdoor, projection, robotic, shadows, tracker. |
| Collections: | Jonathon Carroll Collection (NYC) and private collectors |
