THE SWING, 2008
Video Installation for 3 TV’s installed on a construction board balanced on a rusty metal drum.
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Most of the video sequences are closely linked to the media events of 2007-2008: economic crisis, Obama election, war,…
A large and a small TV are attached to each end of a construction board. A flat screen is placed freely on this board and tilts by gravity according to the inclination of the whole. An automaton inside the barrel activates a motorized system which successively tilts the board on both sides. The cycle lasts about 5 mins 30s and repeats automatically.
In the 2 televisions fixed on the board, one can see the faces of two children of 6 and 9 years old. Face to face, they look at each other and the system is reminiscent of an improvised swing. The flat screen that moves on the board according to its inclination, broadcasts a continuous stream of images that children “zap” with their hands like a touch screen. The game can begin: an excerpt from the musical “The Band Wagon” by Vincente Minnelli is broadcast on the flat screen. The youngest boy dips his finger into the image of Cyd Charisse’s red dress, like a can of paint, and smears his nose like a little clown. The board will then switch to the other boy who will do the same with another image. A series of rocking movements will follow one another, to offer new images such as a palette of colors.
At first, the children will play at smearing their faces with the texture of the images, the little one imitating the older one, until they completely disappear under the videos. Gradually, during this seesaw game, the images will shift in an increasingly chaotic and violent heterogeneous zapping, offering children images that no longer have any relationship with their childhood universe. The game comes to an end: the swing comes to a standstill and the children’s faces are entirely covered by images of war displayed by the flat screen.
Bascule / swing from Emmanuel Carlier on Vimeo.
