As part of the Art in Progress programme at the Youth Centre of the State Hermitage Museum at the General Staff building on 29 May, the Time Keeper multi-media project was opened. An international group of famous artists, representatives of New Media Anna Frants, Alexandra Dementieva, Aranaud Jacobs and Koen Theys showed their work on the eternal theme of the transient nature of time in the life of Man.
The interactive installation of Alexandra Dementieva At the Last Breath raises the question of man’s contribution in the movement of the world. The installation is connected to the internet and each time a word appears in the search engines associated with fear or desire, bulbs light up in a specific order in the metallic structure of the installation. However, the observer in the hall can enter the installation and change the order of the lights receiving signals from the internet, by breathing on a special sensor. The stronger the breath, the brighter the light. The installation is specially made for this project at the CYLAND media lab in St. Petersburg. It is being displayed for the first time.
Anna Frants in a new installation Shadows uses video and audio devices that come to life with the aid of sensors, has created a synthetic setting. The viewers fall into this environment and in their own way consider and evaluate what is happening around them. People begin to realise the abstract nature of time in so far as it appears in the flickering images before them, slowly changing their internal sensation of the real space surrounding them.
Aranaud Jacobs as part of the Time Keeper project presents his Glaz-Maton – an instrument invented by the artist, which takes the pulse and scans the iris of each viewer and based on this information carries out a specific, never to be repeated musical composition using tiny, interconnected music boxes. The melody not only helps viewers to hear the rhythm of their own body but also give sound to their own uniqueness.
Koen Theys, a pioneer of Belgian video art, shows his famous video installation Fanfare, Calme et Volupte.
At master classes, attracting a large number of interested viewers, the artists revealed the philosophical problems of their art, talking about the search for new ways of personifying their artistic ideas associated with multi-media technology and the internet.