BINOCULARS TO… BINOCULARS FROM…

VARVARA GULJAJEVA & MAR CANET SOLA (Based in Estonia)
BINOCULARS TO… BINOCULARS FROM…, 2013

Binoculars to… Binoculars from… is an installation which is able to connect to a number of cities in an extraordinary way. When you look through the binoculars, instead of seeing the scene physically in front of them, you are transported to a different site. This opening of a real-time window into another location is not unidirectional: when looking into the binoculars, your eye is captured and shown on an urban screen at the observed place. Hence, the inhabitants of the other, connected city will see the huge-scale, searching eye looking at them.

As well as playfully connecting to other cities, and dealing with issues of extended surveillance, this work underlines the ideas of the French anthropologist Marc Augé. Binoculars… creates an excess of time and space, allowing one to travel to a totally different location and be present there in a matter of milliseconds, whilst still remaining in one’s first physical location.

Partners: Produced by FACT in Liverpool and adapted by Ars Electronica in Linz; Medialab-Prado in Madrid; Public Art Lab and Foundation Bauhaus Dessau in Dessau; Public Art Lab and ikono in Berlin; iMAL in Brussels; m-cult in Helsinki; Federation Square in Melbourne; Foundation Riga 2014 in Riga.

 

Artist biography

Canet Sola and Guljajeva’s work is concerned with new forms of art, and in particular the playfulness of expression which technology can provide within this context. They apply and challenge technology and traditional production methods in order to explore novel concepts in art, often using computer programming, hardware design, and research to create interactive new media installations and projects.

As a duo their works have been exhibited in a number of international shows and festivals, and they have been selected for numerous artist residencies.

Website: www.mcanet.info, www.varvarag.info

 

Tech info

Materials: Custom-made Binoculars, computer, screen, webcamera, distance sensor, Arduino, custom-made software running on Ubuntu

Dates

August
22-25.8.2013 LIVERPOOL @ FACT, tbd.
22.8.2013 HELSINKI @ Helsinginkatu 1 & 2, 7pm-11pm
23-25.8.2013 HELSINKI @ Helsinginkatu 1 & 2, 1pm-11pm

September
2-6.9.2013 MELBOURNE @ Federation Square, 5-8pm
2-12.9.2013 LIVERPOOL @ FACT, tbd.
5.9.2013 LINZ @ Ars Electronica Center, intermediate storey, 10am-9pm
6.9.2013 LINZ @ Ars Electronica Center, intermediate storey, 10am-00am
6.9.2013 BERLIN @ CHB, 9pm-10.30pm
6.9.2013 DESSAU @ Bauhaus Dessau, 8.30pm-00am
7.9.2013 MADRID @ Medialab-Prado, 9-10pm
7.9.2013 BERLIN @ CHB, 9pm-10.30pm
7.9.2013 DESSAU @ Bauhaus Dessau, 8.30pm-1am
7.9.2013 RIGA @ Creative Space Esplanade, 8pm-00am
7-9.9.2013 LINZ @ Ars Electronica Center, intermediate storey, 10am-9pm
9-13.9.2013 MELBOURNE @ Federation Square, 5-8pm
17-18.9.2013 MELBOURNE @ Federation Square, 5-8pm

October
4-5.10.2013 LIVERPOOL @ FACT, 12pm-11pm
4-5.10.2013 BRUSSELS @ iMAL, Comte de Flandre/Graaf van Vlaanderen Metro Esplanade, 4pm-12am, 2pm-12am