Martin William Rieser: The Street
Title:
- The Street
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Exhibiting Artist(s):
Symposium:
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Artist Statement:
The installation is based on an array of three seamlessly linked projectors using a Matrox Triple Head board and the tracking of human presence through video sensing technology. This is operated through a video camera linked to a Macromedia Director routine and TTC Pro software. The overall background ‘Street’ image, (a typical city street in suburban Bendigo New South Wales) remains still until a proximate section is activated by an audience member approaching the video sensor zone. A seamless scrolling image of the street is projected onto the wall of the space synchronously with the motion of that audience member, through pairing one of the houses with an individual audience member, such that the assigned house appears to lock on to them. The house in question will then appear to track the user and move alongside them as they walk.
The series of these sound and video scenes or vignetted visual poems, is based on experiences of the diverse communities of Bendigo during a residency at La Trobe University in 2007. They relate to gold mining and to the drought and its effects on agriculture and the region through specific poetic narratives. Since these are fleetingly revealed at different positions on the panoramic screen, when triggered by the viewer’s movement in the gallery space, they will allow for both active and passive modes of audience consumption. It is hoped that the random allocation of a house to a particular visitor will enhance both the curiosity of the ‘active’ viewer and an observing ‘passive’ audience, by encouraging them to explore the associated narratives for each house, through collaborative viewing
