PROJECTION MAIL

Perception, ubiquity, displacement in a complex, provocative and original art project. Unfoutunately, I found very difficult to have a more intensive perception of the whole work through its web site. I suggest you try to use the same amount of conceptualization in the developpment of an effective internet plattaform. The greatness and complexity of the project deserves it.

"In its appearance, language is descriptive. When you tell your story, you tell it as it was: the magnificent ship, the ocean, the big sky, and the flirt you had, that made the whole trip a delight.

But for whom do you tell it? That's the wrong question. The right question is: With whom are you going to dance your story, so that your partner will float with you over the decks of your ship, will smell the salt of the ocean, will let the soul expand over the sky, and there will be a flash of jealousy when you come to the point of your flirt.

In its function, language is constructive, because nobody knows the source of your story. Nobody knows, or ever will know how it was: because as it was is gone forever.

You remember Rene Descartes, as he was sitting in his study, not only doubting that he was sitting in his study, but also doubted his existence. He asked himself: "Am I, or am I not?"

He answered this rhetorical question with the solipsistic monologue: "Je pense, donc je suis," or in the famous Latin version, "Cogito ergo Sum." As Descartes knew very well, this is language in its appearance; otherwise he would not have quickly published his insight for the benefit of others in his "Discourse de la methode." Since he understood the function of language as well, in all fairness, he should have exclaimed: "Je pense, donc nous sommes," "Cogito ergo sumus" or "I think, therefore we are!"

In its appearance, the language I speak is my language. It makes me aware of myself: this is the root of consciousness.

In its function, my language reaches out for the other: this is the root of conscience. And this is where Ethics invisibly manifests itself through dialogue. Permit me to read to you what Martin Buber says in the last few lines of his book Das Problem der Menschen:

Contemplate the human with the human, and you will see the dynamic duality, the human essence, together: here is the giving and the receiving, here the aggressive and the defensive power, here the quality of searching and of responding, always both in one, mutually complementing in alternating action, demonstrating together what it is: human. Now you can turn to the single one and you recognize him as human for his potential of relating. We may come closer to answering the question "What is human?" when we come to understand him as the being in whose dialogic, in his mutually present two-getherness, the encounter of the one with the other is realized and recognized at all times." Heinz von Foerster

This is a very interesting project as it creates an entirely new channel of public communication that blurs the boundaries between physical and virtual space, between the indivdual and the public image. The posibilities for the boxes are very exciting, and I would love to see the project become widely distributed and implemented in other communities. The installation settings are quite beautiful and I really appreciate the simple and unique engagement it immediately evokes in the user/viewer.

I feel that the presentation of the project, especially in the context of this edition of memefest, is a little clouded by the over abundance of "art-speak". The relationship to the festival outlines is not made expllicit. On a second and third reading, the description does become clearer, however I feel it really takes away from what I essentially understand as a "series of low-fi, distributed, projection boxes".

Furthermore, I'm still unclear as to what the original projected content of the boxes is and how it relates to the Indian context that is mentioned. Are they pictures of individuals, of the environment. Is there a narrative, a political angle. Dismissing the importance of content for the medium itself does an injustice to the origination of the project, and a deeper understanding of the intention behind it.

Nonetheless, the simplicity (in my understanding) of the project, the original conception, and its vast potential make this a very rewarding work, and as mentioned earlier I would love to see it evolve in other contexts.