My exhibition consists of an immersive video installation made up of a multichannel projection system. The Title, View From Other Side, came from the viewing instructions that are printed onto the 35mm slide frames. Through the use of archival home movie footage, I want to create an installation that comments on the intersection between human memory and digital memory. The installation will be situated in a white, windowless cube-like room, where three of the four walls are projected on to. Alongside a series of digital projectors, that are secured to the ceiling, is a 1950’s 35mm slide projector with a carousel of ‘found’ slides.
Over the top of parts of the found footage, and a selection of the slides, is a visualisation of statistical data about both human and digital memory, creating a fragmented rhizomatic effect. Due to the nature of the projectors, when the spectator moves through the space, they naturally become a part of the installation as their silhouette superimposes into the footage, almost as if you are stepping into other peoples memories.
The slide projector also adds a level of interactivity as the spectator can use the trigger to change the images and dictate the length in which they see each image. The final element of my View From Other Side is a series of panels made of veil like fabric suspended from the ceiling with the moving image piece projected on to and through them. The ephemeral and transitory nature of the gauze like sheets allow for an element of touch and the perpetual movement of the spectators within the space. Throughout the installation is an soundscape played on a series of speakers spread across the room, so when walking through the room, the sounds get louder and quieter depending where you are in the room. The audio piece is made up of sound clips from the archive footage and an Avant-garde electronic sound piece by Paper Tether.
I want the space to become a sort of dream like environment, almost like a literal memory storage room, with a fragmented and voyeuristic view into other peoples treasure memories, hopefully creating a sort of vicarious nostalgia in the spectator.
If this body of work was ever exhibited on a larger scale, I would like to include another physical element, for example a filing cabinet, that when you open the drawer there is a screen also playing found memories or file size slides that the spectator could take out and hold up to the light. I think this could add another level of interactivity to the installation and the filing cabinet links back to the storage of memory within my mind palace room.
