Author: iki

2000-2001
Installed in NYC, NY, Stowe VT, USA. & Muscat Oman.
On The Table was a media project experimenting with the extent to which art making could become a vehicle for changing the dynamic of interpersonal relationships.  On The Table was done in two stages; At Home and Re(c)Site.
At Home:
I made an equipment that was capable of recording and playing back audio video.  I put the equipment in private homes in New York, Vermont and Tokyo, asking the residents to record and exchange personal video messages amongst themselves.  A total of five households, including my own, used the equipment.  I gave little direction to residents, only to portrait themselves within an intimate distance from the equipment.  Left over a period of time, numerous video messages were exchanged between participants.  In some instances this process revealed emotional issues that had never been discussed before, while in other instances a highly charged emotion was suppressed due to the presence of the equipment.  At the conclusion, I asked residents to select sections of material they felt comfortable having others view, with the understanding that the origin of the material would remain anonymous.  In some cases, I was asked to select the material, and at times was denied the release.
Re(c)Site:
Using the released audio recordings, I created a series of dramatic reenactments with actors.  Each actor was provided with an audio-only recording of the original message, and was instructed to interpret what they heard.  I asked them not to memorize the text, but rather to improvise in a manner of their choice based upon what they had heard.  For some this took the form of a free association based on their own past experiences that resonated with what they had heard and understood.  Others did not use words at all, but instead chose to convey the sentiment of the text simply with facial expressions.
I made a gallery installation with two videos: the first video was of an empty living room with the audio recording from different households, and the second video was of actors’ enactments.  The first video was displayed in the original equipment and the second video was displayed in another equipment I made for the exhibition, which had a slightly bigger screen.  The installation was exhibited at the Kitchen, Harvestworks and the former Cultural Center of Muscat Oman.
On The Table is available for showing.  Contact the artist for further assistance.

 
 
 
 
2001
Installed in NYC, NY, USA.
On and Under The Viaduct was a site specific installation commissioned by the Kitchen and Friends of the High Line.  It was shown at the Kitchen’s street fair.
At the time of the production, there were two oppositional plans for the High Line; one to demolish it and another one to renovate it as a public park.  The High Line now is a public park that runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street between 10th and 12th Avenue.  Since the rebirth of the High Line, most of the old factories and car mechanic places have been pushed out and the area is now occupied with blue chip galleries and luxury condominiums.
I asked a dancer to move from one end of the High Line to the other end of the High Line with a steady camera.  She recorded her trip as she moved through the freight rail line.  I also got hold of an audio recording of a public hearing in which people from both sides expressed their opinions about what to do with the High Line.
I made a telescope with an electronic shutter that could switch between video display and the actual view from the telescope.  The telescope was placed under the High Line, so the view was of High Line seen from below.  The video was of the footage shot on the High Line.  The audio recording of the debate was only played during the actual view seen from below.

1997
Installed in San Sebastian, Spain.
Rendezvous Mal’adresse was a site-specific installation.  It took place in San Sebastian, Spain.  San Sebastian is a resort town right in the Basque region and has a reputation for romantic rendezvous.  I selected three locations that were often used as a meeting place.  At each location, I directed a scene of rendezvous with people I met there.  I recorded them and made a photomontage for each location.
I then framed each photomontage and installed it next to the preexisting phone booth.  On the back of the frame, I attached a voice-recording machine for people to leave a message.
This project was commissioned and funded at the artist residency program at Arteleku.

1995
Installed in NYC, NY, USA.
Window 02-FLIP was a site-specific installation in collaboration with Taketo Shimada.  It took place at Basic Wheel, a skateboarding store in lower east side.
Shimada and I made two glass plates and attached them on the storefront window of Basic Wheel.  Each plate had its own video screen.  The screen on the right played a video portrait of the local skaters.  The screen on the left played a moving text and other footage we made from the moving text.
In the video portrait, the skaters described their techniques, the places they skate, and their reasons for skating.  Excerpts of their words were displayed as text and superimposed onto the video of them skating.  We deconstructed those words in accordance to an anagram system of the word “FLIP.”  Shimada and I used the new word arrangement as script and directed a series of scenes using actors.  These new scenes were displayed on the left screen along with the words that generated the scenes.