venerdì 10 ottobre 2014

Siamo Narcisi (video)


we are narcisses’ is an interactive project by bertrand lanthiez and chloé curé 
that transposes legends and myths with the help of a few simple materials: 
a mirror,some water, and a speaker. the more the viewers look at themselves,
the more their faces are deformed, leading them to question their relation to their
own image. this project is a response 
to a school subject around the theme of beauty. the designers immediately thought about the 
reflective glass that hangs in the spaces of our homes, the myth of our own representation.


video courtesy of bertrand lanthiez and chloé curé



‘looking-glass upon the wall, who’s fairest of us all?’ like the evil queen of the 
brothers grimm tale, we expect the surface to depict the picture we want to have 
of ourselves. but more than in the visual, it’s in our eyes that we may find an 
answer. lanthiez and curé said, ‘what particularly interested us in the tale of little snow white 
is this interaction between the magic mirror and the queen. what if we create, us too, a mirror 
that lives and reacts? a mirror in which, the more we look, the less we can recognize ourself? 
a mirror that not only is not complacent, but invites us to look elsewhere, or ourselves.’

gif of the distortion


 in addition, the duo found the elements necessary for the development of their 
project in the myth of narcissus. according to the roman poet ovid, the main character’s 
hamartia (a hero’s tragic flaw) is that he is bound to fall in love with himself. it is by looking at
 an ocean that he stayed, struck by his own image, eventually dying of languor, starvation, and 
drowning.
bertrand lanthiez we are narcisses water mirror reflection
a portrait of a woman

 based on this tale, water is used in its natural form rather than simulated by 
numerical and graphical means. deformations of the liquid are physically created by a 
subwoofer enclosure that is alive with low-frequency sounds. distortions intensify 
progressively with the time spent above the construct and change appearance 
depending on the intensity of the noise being played regarding the position and the 
weight balance of the viewer.
bertrand lanthiez we are narcisses water mirror reflection
poster of the installation
bertrand lanthiez we are narcisses water mirror reflection
each picture is a distorted representation
bertrand lanthiez we are narcisses water mirror reflection
diagram of the system