Video Installation

The White Chamber

by Danilo Herrera

Project Description
Watch your step as you walk over the White Chamber.

Performance by Angel Jin
Score by Dante Francomano

 

Artist’s Statement

The  boundaries between the projection and the atrium must dissolve. One is within the other. Accordingly the body is not mediated by the technology but rather through the experience created by the two related spaces, virtual and real .

The dissolved boundaries was the principle to create my installation.

Nevertheless, there was no intention to create a super-reality. It is a projection. You, the viewer, I… we all know that. From this perspective, the White Chamber is a fictional reality. But at the same time, the projection interferes in the way we see and use the atrium. It is a matter of choice to walk over the White Chamber, to step on the grids as we see the woman down there. If the viewer diverts, it is also a choice. It the viewer ignores it, it is still a choice. The chamber gives no choices, but the obligation to choose.

For the viewer, making choices is an inherent part of the experience.

And whether we choose to believe in the White Chamber or not, we ultimately know that the projection is also real. The woman is real. And as long as she cannot see us from down there, we have no power over the Chamber. Our connection with her is solely of observance, until she looks up and discovers the atrium. For a short period of time, her stare invites the viewer to come down.

We are driven to feel the atmosphere of the White Chamber.

And I tried to craft this perception also through technical elements. The stones around the grid make the projection merge with the stoned floor. It helps dissolve the boundaries. The grid itself creates depth, adds dimension inward the floor, contributing to the optical  illusion of a possible space beneath the atrium. The depth is also achieved with shadows of the woman over the white floor. I casted them with two white spotlights placed on the top of the performer. The score expands the atmosphere of the atrium. At the same time, it shrinks the Chamber and suffocates the woman and whoever walks by and is caught by the White Chamber’s atmosphere. Finally, the sounds communicate with the performance, intensifying the rhythm of it.

The jail grids and the score add density to the installation.

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