BRIDGE BETWEEN THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE, WELL OF ABSENCES AND PRESENCES
By Aixa Portero
By Aixa Portero
It is part of a larger project which embraces different european cities. A view from outside, from our spanish culture, of the city of Geneva, facing it with a receptive and reflective attitude. Result of a lengthy investigation of some European cities, through their cultural and social contexts, in an attempt to understand its public spaces as a (rational and physical) reflection where multiplicity is observed (multiplicity) as a place where we can find and embrace our individual lives (individualcity).
Overstep…
Storefronts, appearances, mirages of a reality,
Absence of a tangible city.
Exclusion…
This persistent reflection on the ephemeral reinforces the transience of presence. The debate illusion with reality, inverts and multiplies.
Paradox…
Sounds of intimacy, everyday life the most banal, trip from appearance to reality. Transparent windows like murky water where recognized He resulted in the death of Narcissus. Time overlays in reflexes that come and go: One way always unfinished. Bridge between the visible and the invisible pit of absences and presences.
The filmed city is monocular and opposes from our binocular way of perceiving. The gaze of the viewer is a product. An image that sends us our own look, a misleading picture. We can doubt about a filmed city. It’s not the only visible part of the city. As a showcase, the screen conveys an irresistible desire, perhaps narcissistic, and indicates a referential illusion… It is an attempt to use this popular medium par excellence and trying to distance himself from the machine. The video display don’t necessarily need to be a transparent window…
It can be opaque, and again, it deals with contradictory principles: inside and outside, private and public, exclusion and inclusion. I use images of storefronts of this city, Geneva, filmed as if the window was a video screen in an effort to change the orientation of the viewer using sounds of everyday life with these images (such as the sound of scrubbing dishes, shower, eating, drinking, flushing the toilet, brushing teeth…).
This installation is presented in four screens of digital HDTV in the Uni Mail building of the University of Geneva. The video is projected during periods of transition between classes continuously. The aim is to break the daily bustle of life with sounds from intimacy, accompanying with images from the outside, inside a public building.
This work has leaded to a series of videos and photographs which emphasises the theme, creating an active project today. The series of videos and photographs include European cities. The photographs are displayed with intimate sounds of everyday embedded and with the help of a sound system which distributes it from different points of the room where the photographs are presented.
Precisely, the duality of principles (interior-exterior, inclusion-exclusion, public-private) which I spoke of before.
It’s worth it to mention that in the last stages, in addition of the video and photography, some multimedia and interactive elements were added to allow its dissemination, built not only through physical space, but also through Internet.
Going beyond reality or appearance?…