Durchsehen

#2010
#concrete
#augmentation

Commissioned by .HBC Berlin

Collaboration with Daniel Franke

A camera fixed on the concrete cube sculpture recognizes the presence of human faces within its scope. With a randomized choice it will focus on one of the bystanders and adjust its movement to his; tracking the eye movements of the viewer, a software computes the corresponding angle of view projecting onto the cube the very section of the space the sculpture is blocking from the viewers eye; thus making the cube appear transparent. The video sculpture Durchsehen, Exp. 01 (augmented perspective) overwrites the common notion of perspective and plays with the significance of perspective in an art historical perspective; the work of art evades the gaze of the viewer or rather: the two are equated. The gaze of the observer coincides with the object of observance in a piece that also draws a line to former strategies of dealing with vision and depiction: the renaissance praxis of painting on glass. Through the real-time projection on the cube a 3dimensional depiction of 2dimensionality occurs; the catoptric turns dioptric. The framing plane of the conventional video image becomes fragmented as work and reality intertwine in an augmented perspective.

A concrete cube with projection of the area behind it making it seem a bit transparent.

Concrete cube with background projection

A concrete cube in the center. On both sides a projector sits on a tripod.

Exhibition view w/o projection

A concrete structure with colorful projection

Detail of concrete cube with projection

Close up of a webcam with a mounted LED lamp

A webcam is used to track the face of the observer and calculate the angle of view