video
The two interactive art installations Venetian Mirror and Exquisite Clock were selected to be part of the V&A’s exhibition “Decode: Digital Design Sensations”, from 8 December 2009 to 11 April 2010. Decode is a major survey of the best contemporary digital art and design from around the world curated by the prestigious London institution and the leading digital arts organization onedotzero.
VENETIAN MIRROR is a large scale interactive installation blending contemporary digital technology with traditional Venetian glass. When the visitor walks up to the installation, their image doesn’t immediately appear in the mirror. Only if they keep very still, will the reflection slowly appear, like a photograph being developed. This installation invites the audience to reflect on the mystery of time itself and on the sense of oneself and one’s body.
EXQUISITE CLOCK is a clock made of numbers taken from everyday life – seen, captured and uploaded on the website by people from all over the world. The project connects time, play and visual aesthetics. Through the website www.exquisiteclock.org, users are invited to collect and upload images of numbers that can be found in different contexts and to participate in a global conversation about the poetics of the images. Exquisite Clock has also been developed as iPhone application.
The inclusion of Venetian Mirror and Exquisite Clock in this major exhibition is the recognition of Fabrica’s role in exploring new approaches to the creative use of technology, and puts the creative laboratory of Benetton firmly at the centre of the most exciting, innovative and creative developments taking place in the arts and design today.
Decode also features the work of two well known artists who have taken their first steps at Fabrica: We Feel Fine by Jonathan Harris was first shown in ‘I’ve Been Waiting for You’, a Fabrica group show of interactive and relational art at the Triad, Seoul as part of the Seoul Biennale in 2006. The Replenishing Body by Ross Phillips is an award winning interactive video installation in which the viewer is invited to put themselves into the picture. An earlier version of this work titled ‘VideoGrid’ was part of the Fabrica show DARE at the Museum of the Moving Image, New York in 2003.
