My mobile body makes a difference in the visible world, being part of it; this why I can steer it through the visible.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, ‘Eye and Mind’, The Primacy of Perception
An awareness of the kin‚àö¬∂sthetic power of mirrors and light is the dominant characteristic that has been developed by the interactive art work ‘You Fade To Light’. It engages directly with aesthetic ideas of kin‚àö¬∂sthetic learning by actual physical involvement. But by learning it is not suggested that the work is in any way didactic, since most creative learning in life is developed through participating in play.
A large wall of multiple mirrors has been created by rAndom International, whereby a viewer can create a unique dialogue between themselves and their mirror image. The work foregrounds an interactive body-based idea that is both spontaneous and intuitive. A viewer stands in front of the wall, and interactively following their body movements the mirror reflections see them transformed into light. In this way the work not only opens up issues of reflection and transformation, but simultaneously provokes the viewer into questioning why normally at all forms of reflection can only exist in light; complete darkness usually affords no reflection.
Conversely ‘You Fade To Light ‘ is installed in a darkened room setting, and creates a distinction from the analogue mirror where the reflected image is no more than a passive reflection. In this instance the effect is dynamic, as the mirror wall does not (unlike more conventional mirrors) passively dispose with the image, but converts it from the mirror image surface to that of an irradiating light. The physical experience of fading to light has the effect of making the participant aware of the role of movement, and how a physical human interaction with the world is able to create and change the experience of reality. It also evokes the idea, and reminds the viewer-participant, that the spatio-temporal conditions of life, its surroundings and perceptions, are always grounded and enacted in and through the body.
We both see and understand the world from a consciousness operating from the fixed spatial realities of a living body. The unique transitional properties of ‘You Fade To Light’ are created by the use organic light emitting diodes (called OLED’s), a new form of light source currently being developed by Phillips Lumiblade in Aachen.
The work was exhibited at the Neue Sammlung, International Design Museum, Munich (11 November, 2009 – 8 February, 2010).
With the intention of emphasising the role of bodily interaction, and as a documentary response to the work, Philips Lumiblade commissioned rAndom to develop the documentation of the piece later in 2009. Choreographer Laila Diallo collaborated with rAndom to conceive and perform a short choreographed work engaging with the ‘You Fade To Light’. The result is a six minute film taken at London Big Sky Studios in August, and released in November, 2009. The photography is by Sebastien Pons.
‘You Fade to Light’ is an edition of 8 (+ 1 AP), and available from Carpenters Workshop Gallery and Galerie Volker Diehl in Berlin.
http://www.vimeo.com/6315769