Experimental video installation
“Spaces” is intended for viewers to consider their relationships to their Spaces.
Spaces
This video was projected & installed on the third floor landing of an interior stairwell. This way no outside light interrupted the viewing experience and viewers had to hike up to even see it. The goal of the experimental installation was for viewers to, at the very least, consider their relationships with their spaces and environments. Another goal of this exhibition was for viewers to change their behavior. Because of the way it’s projected onto the ceiling, anyone viewing it, had to stop and crane their neck up, sit down in the stairwell, or even lay in the stairway to view it properly.
This installation was successful in not only getting viewers to think about their spaces & environments but also in getting viewers to alter their behavior. Keep in mind when viewing that this video is intended to be projected on loop inside a stairwell. The video itself is also the average length of a song, as to comment on our collective attention spans in the digital age.
Viewer Experience, From the case Study
“After about a minute or so, I began to feel my next stiffen and my muscles strain to look upwards. I was drawn to the video. When I took my eyes of the ceiling, I couldn’t help but immediately look back up. That’s when I thought to myself. “Why don’t I just lay down on the ground and look up at the ceiling?” And that’s exactly what I did. Now I don’t know if the intention was to change the behavior and actions of the viewer as they experience his video, but I found an increasingly complex relationship between the environments in the video and this new way I chose to interact with my environment. As I laid on the cold concrete in the middle of the stairwell, I thought about how I would justify my unorthodox presence. I began to think about all the times this past summer that I laid down in the grass in the shade of a tree, simply enjoying myself and my surroundings without thinking about it. I thought about how much more comfortable I was viewing this video from my new position. I thought about all the shoes that had shuffled there way down the I was now sprawled over. I wondered, will I sit up and move if someone comes up or down these stairs? I realized by laying down in the middle of the staircase, I had staked claim to this space as my own.
Taking a moment to lay down and watch this video loop over and over gave myself a moment to reflect on my own relationships to land and space itself. Without the video being projected onto the ceiling, I would have never changed my actions to accommodate the comfort of my experience. I think the fact that this video was project on the ceiling was the most powerful element of the installation.“
