Pratiques V: Trajectoires
Public Commission for the new Mediathèque in Sorgues
2010
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Starting with live video that looks essentially like CCTV footage, the work conjures the innocent fascination of a kaleidoscopic image, in which visitors can discern themselves and their architectural surrounding. Placed at the heart of this municipal cultural facility, which resonates with the metabolism of the architecture, Trajectoires is central to this project concerning the everyday practices at the heart of any cultural activity.
High above the librarian’s desk at the centre of this double height space floats a plane of pattern and colour—in reality a Da-lite screen (a translucent slab of white which diffuses the video image in all directions with bright, intense colour, even in daylight). Based on the principle of the kaleidoscope, it produces symmetrical patterns from live video; but the addition of time as an element in the composition—by letting patterns develop in pulses over several seconds—allows a constant dialogue between the work developing on the screen and the activity in the busy public space around it.