In Order to Control
In NOTA BENE’s In Order to Control exhibition there is a projection of text on the floor which shows one’s typographic silhouette on the wall in front. NOTA BENE is a creative studio from Istanbul.
The text, set on a continuously loop, revolves around ethics and morality. There are questions like, “Does the possibility of being imprisoned makes you free when you walk on the streets?” and phrases like, “Everything that’s legal is not always fair. Everything that’s fair is not always legal”. The text covers a variety of topics like violence, imprisonment, social norms, and so much more in a block paragraph form. A list of the text can be found here.
The scattered and informal way the text is written allows the viewers to interpret different meanings. This along with the fact that each viewer will have a different silhouette and thus it will be presented differently as well. NOTA BENE’s work seems purposeful in its presentation of ethics and morality with an emphasis in the individual and one’s perception.
https://ricardovparsons.wordpress.com/4_thesisii/tii-w7-midterms/
This work is similar to ReConstitution by Sosolimited. This work transcribed the debate in real time between John McCain and Barack Obama and created a variety of visualizations based on its findings. This project was streamed to large audiences at the time of the debate. This project is similar to In Order to Control because both play with how we perceive something versus how others do. With this visualization of the debate viewers were given a completely different perspective than traditional watchers had. By highlighting a candidate’s repetition in the visualization, a viewer may discredit them more as a candidate, however this could have been completely unnoticed had they been just watching the debate.
In Order to Control is streamed across one’s silhouette, presenting text in unique patterns for different periods of time depending on the silhouette’s shape. In doing this, NOTA BENE is not only showing issues of morality and ethics evolve over time, but also that these issues stand differently with everyone. This makes me think of the internet and how it was supposed to foster debate, but instead supported polarization, with people supporting a topic only seeing reinforcement for their opinion.
http://camilleutterback.com/projects/text-rain/
A similar work in its presentation and idea, is Text Rain by Romy Achituv & Camille Utterback. The artwork projects a mirrored image of the viewer with letters falling from the top of the image and bouncing off of their silhouette like rain. The text is from a poem on bodies and language, similar to In Order to Control in subject matter, for these are universal issues- affecting a wide body of people differently.
Text Rain responds to the participant so that letters can be caught and come together to be full words or lines. This similarly presents the viewer with a unique way to read. Both works force the participant to move and contort themselves in order to read, making reading more physical.
Another work similar to In Order to Control is Daniel Rozin’s PomPom Mirror. Rozin’s work presents the viewer with their silhouette as black fur against a white fur background. Rozin has done a lot of work with motion-sensing mirrors with a lot of different materials. This type of work is so powerful because it shows you, yourself just different. We as humans check our image within mirrors/cameras frequently and despite the little change in our image between the minute and the hour we insist on still checking. This fascination is a fascination of our individual self and it effects everyone. This is what makes the mirror such a good medium for the universal statements on individuality in In Order to Control and Text rain.
In Order to Control Exhibited:
Freemote'11 & Fiber Festival / Netherlands
Nuit Numerique / France
ACE of M.I.C.E / Turkey
CITATIONS
"Text Rain." Camille Utterback. Web. 31 May 2016. <http://camilleutterback.com/projects/text-rain/>.
"In Order to Control." Nota Bene Visual. Web. 31 May 2016. <http://www.notabenevisual.com/?p=443#/works/in-order-to-control/>.
