Surprise,
It's Not Me!
Surprise, It's Not Me! Is an installation that plays on the tension between self-absorption and the presence of others. The installation was last presented at XPO with roboticist Edwin Dertien.
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Surprise, It's Not Me! Creates a space for recognizing the beauty and excitement of forming connections. This moment is due concave mirrors that present a high definition zoomed in image of the self while leaving the surroundings distorted and blurry.
Background:
The installation is the Part 1 of a series of collective installations engendered by the new psychosocial dynamics formed by the pandemic. Surprise, It's Not Me! Highlights the contrast between the allure of self-absorption and of building a connection with someone else. ​
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The Work:
Surprise, It's Not Me! Creates a space for recognizing the beauty and excitement of forming connections, at a moment of heightened self-absorption. This moment is generated by concave mirrors that present a high definition and detail image of the self while leaving the surroundings distorted and blurry. The only subject one can look at is the self; looking anywhere else in the mirror comes at the expense of eye pain due to the eyes' inability to focus.​
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When two participants across each other have been captivated by their own reflection for a period of time, the mirrors in front of them drop, and they are left with the image of each other instead.
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Details:
The installation has a 230 x 150 cm rectangular form. The construction includes 230 x 10 cm custom treated wood frames, where each wood is unique. The main frames are 150x100 concave mirrors. The mechanism works with transparent heavy weight chords, stepper motors, Arduino(c) microcontrollers and sonic distance sensors with internal noise reduction.
