Jeffrey Shaw, Agnes Hegedüs, Bernd Lintermann, Leslie Stuck
ConFiguring the CAVE
1996
- Artist / Artist group
- Jeffrey Shaw, Agnes Hegedüs, Bernd Lintermann, Leslie Stuck
- Title
- ConFiguring the CAVE
- Year
- 1996
- Category
- Computer-based
- Installation
- Material / Technique
- interactive installation; computers, projectors, screens, wooden figures
- Dimensions / Duration
- installation dimension variable
- Collection
- ZKM | Collection
- Description
- At the centre of a four-walled projection space – a so-called CAVE – stands a wooden mannequin. Visitors can move this puppet: arms, legs, head. Each movement alters the projected images and sounds that surround the space on all sides. The puppet becomes an interface between body and virtual space – not based on buttons or screens, but on gesture. Seven different audiovisual worlds can be explored. To move from one to the next, one brings the puppet's hands in front of its eyes and then removes them again. In each world, image and music respond differently to the puppet's movements. The work revolves around the relationship between body and space, microcosm and macrocosm – an ancient philosophical idea, here translated into a technologically mediated form. The seven worlds: Material – Geometric forms move through the space in organic symmetry. On their surfaces appear fisheye photographs: a teahouse, the foyer of Tokyo Opera City, the shelters of homeless people in Shinjuku Station. The puppet's movements draw these forms closer. Language – Layers of texts, letters, and hieroglyphics form a matrix of languages. On the floor, a Chinese rubbing stone with engraved characters; in the background, a Hebrew star chart. Turning the puppet upside down creates a vortex of signs. Macrocosm – The five Platonic solids float through the space, their symmetry deformed by the puppet's movements. Three concentric spheres rotate in the background: a surrealist world map, a satellite image of Earth with continents made of clouds, an astrological celestial map. Association – Drawn hands spiral through the space, shifting their gestures. In the background, a panoramic photograph: people at a table in a bar. Bringing the puppet's hands together produces a virtual shadow play on the rear wall. Union – Two image planes overlap: a satellite photograph of the Hiroshima region and a daguerreotype of two naked women. Tilting the puppet causes the figures to merge with the Earth's topography or become the firmament. Person – In a fiery space stands a mirror image of the puppet, echoing every movement and casting shadows. Seven objects dance in the flames: a candelabra, a compass, a camera, a gyroscope, a child's wagon, a blue sponge, a cube bearing human figures. Emergence – Algorithmically generated monochrome forms spiral through the space, inspired by early abstract animation films. Tilting the puppet into a horizontal position causes all elements to condense into a structure resembling a kinetic, three-dimensional abstract painting. The work was created under the direction of Jeffrey Shaw together with Agnes Hegedüs and Bernd Lintermann, who developed the software. The music was composed by Leslie Stuck.
Author
MR