ELIZABETH DILLER, RICARDO SCOFIDIO

http://www.diacenter.org/dillerscofidio/

	I995, Indigestion

Indigestion

Indigestion blends together the genres of the film noir, installation art and interactive games. It is comprised of an interactive video and a virtual environment, linked together electronically. It shows two people having dinner. An image of the table seen in a low-angle shot is projected onto a horizontal screen, placed roughly at the height of an ordinary table. The dialogue refers to some unspecified crime, and all we can see are the movements of the hands of the two diners. An interface device gives the visitor a selection of stereotyped characters. The action is continuous, varying simply according to the characters at the table. In counterpoint to the static perspective of the projected table, another moving and dynamic perspective magnifies the surface of the table, revealing another micro-drama. Using a point and click feature on the navigation device, the spectator begins to read the table as a forensic surface of shifting information and material proofs, constantly in conflict with the piece’s dialogue. The two simultaneous modes of representation are not cumulative. Rather, they produce conflicting narratives that remain inconclusive and "indigestible".


The view as presentation: Slow House

The Slow House project by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio grew out of some thoughts about the view, always seen as an extra value in real estate terms. It appears, for example, that the positioning, orientation and configuration of holiday homes all aim at structuring the visual field as seen from the inside, in other words, at structuring the view. The technology of high strength glass has led to a technological modification of the view. The view is only recognized as such when it is framed by a picture window, making possible the appropriation of the landscape within the domestic interior. But when the vision of the ocean or of the horizon is not blocked by any obstacle, then the contemplation of the curves of the planet takes on new values — as does the house too. In Slow House, a long corridor leads from the entrance to an immense picture window on which an electronic view is displayed. A remote control system makes it possible to zoom in or enlarge the field of vision, and to memorize whichever parts one likes. The view becomes a leisure pursuit, and the hidden technology leads to a new social use of the window as object.

The view as presentation: Jump Cuts

Jump Cuts is an installation which has been designed for a Silicon Valley cinema. It offers recorded sequences, viewed on a liquid crystal display screen and shown in one of two modes: a transparent mode or a translucent mode. The same principle was applied in another project for the CNN Center, a 1960s-style building in reinforced concrete. A large number of liquid crystal panels were set up inside the vast atrium of the building, showing video images on a grandiose scale. The virtual accessibility of this space is endlessly called into question by alternating real view and view transmitted live from inside the building.