Recurrent Waiting
Submirror 1
“Recurrent Waiting” is an interactive mirror installation from the ongoing Submirror series, a body of work that explores the tension between self-perception, loss of control, and digital puppetry. These mirrors are recalcitrant, they do not reflect faithfully; they act with intention, manipulating the viewer’s image to reveal a version of the self that is no longer entirely their own.
In “Recurrent Waiting”, the mirror replicates the viewer’s image, but the reflection blinks erratically, accompanied by faint signalling sounds. This blinking follows a timed sequence that transmits Lucky’s monologue from Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in Morse code. The result is a fragmented, involuntary form of communication—technically generated by the viewer’s presence, yet entirely outside their conscious intent. The experience is uncanny: your reflection blinks compulsively, as if trying to convey something urgent from behind the glass.
Drawing on Beckett’s themes of absurdity and existential dislocation, the work transforms the mirror into a stage where the viewer becomes both puppet and performer, animated by a script they neither authored nor control. As with other pieces in the Submirror series, “Recurrent Waiting” questions the stability of self-image under automated observation. It asks what happens when technology doesn’t just observe us—but represents us, poorly, poetically, and without consent.
In “Recurrent Waiting”, the mirror replicates the viewer’s image, but the reflection blinks erratically, accompanied by faint signalling sounds. This blinking follows a timed sequence that transmits Lucky’s monologue from Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in Morse code. The result is a fragmented, involuntary form of communication—technically generated by the viewer’s presence, yet entirely outside their conscious intent. The experience is uncanny: your reflection blinks compulsively, as if trying to convey something urgent from behind the glass.
Drawing on Beckett’s themes of absurdity and existential dislocation, the work transforms the mirror into a stage where the viewer becomes both puppet and performer, animated by a script they neither authored nor control. As with other pieces in the Submirror series, “Recurrent Waiting” questions the stability of self-image under automated observation. It asks what happens when technology doesn’t just observe us—but represents us, poorly, poetically, and without consent.
General info
Spanish name:
Espera recurrente
Year of creation:
2025
Technique:
Nanotexture display, facial-detection camera, speaker, PC running custom Live Portraiture AI software.
Additional info:
The piece consists of a vertically mounted monitor equipped with a facial-detection camera and Live Portraiture AI. Beckett’s monologue is translated into Morse code, paired with pulsed audio signals. The AI modulates the subject’s virtual blinking to match the rhythm of the encoded text.
Keywords:
Edition:
6 Editions, 1 AP
Exhibitions
- Untitled Art Houston , bitforms gallery, George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas, United States, 2025.
Credits
- Software: David Robert and Stephan Schulz
Photo Library (click to expand)
2025 - Antimodular Studio, Montréal, Canada
