Patrícia J. Reis Patrícia J. Reis
title

Odalisques #2

year

2013 – 2015

dimensions
variable
technology

Audiovisual interactive installation composed by:

Inkjet print on PVC (120×140 cm), single channel video, color, PAL, Full-HD,

10 min, monitor (customized), computer tracking system.

A monitor is installed featuring a photograph of two female figures with their backs to the viewer. The participant can freely move the monitor – in all directions – to see a different image than that in the photograph. Although the moving image that appears on the screen corresponds to the still shot, the video operates as a window, enabling the viewer to see beyond it – to virtually enter the invisible side of the image.
At the first glance, the figures depicted in the still, seated side by side, appear to be an exact repetition or a mirror image. Only at a second glance can the viewer perceive the differences. This interaction then makes it clear that – despite similarities – the figures behave differently. In the performance-like act of posing, the figures interact with each other bu means of various gestures, such as looking, smiling, nodding and touching. However, the viewer is never entirely able to verify this, since the screen is so small that the viewer cannot perceive both figures simultaneously.
The participant is encouraged to take part in the perceptual exercise of composing the continuously moving image through small, fragmented shots.
The silent dialogue between the figures is an enigmatic occurrence, as they apparently seem to be in a synchronized conversation. By steering the screen, the participant becomes first an outsider, a voyeur, discerning the action behind the still image. But the figures are aware of the presence of the viewer: as they exchange signs with each other, they also occasionally directly face the viewer, thereby including him or her as a third participant in this dialogue. The screen interface frames this virtual scenario in much the same way as a digital camera, which is incapable of freezing a moment in time.

EXHIBITIONS

Something other than photography

Group show

Venue: Edith-‐Russ-‐Haus für Medienkunst

Oldenburg, Germany, (2013).

Curator: Claudia Giannetti

Digital Frictions

Group Show

Venue: Weissen haus

Vienna, Austria, (2013).

Curator: Ruth Schnell

Essence 14

Group show

Venue: Künstlerhaus

Vienna, Austria (2014).

Curator: Ruth Schnell

PRESS

CREDITS

Development, concept and production: Patrícia J. Reis, Vasco Bila