Simon Biggs & Dalibor Martinis
5/3 - 5/23/1993


"SOLITARY", Simon Biggs


"Supper At Last", Dalibor Martinis
Interactive computer installation, video projections and environment by Simon Biggs and Dalibor Martinis.

In the interactive, computer controlled video installation 'Solitary' the theme is the self-portrait of the individual in the technological age.' Solitary' deals with the fragmentary nature of memory from the influence of time. The viewer enters a large, quiet, black room that is completely empty. Movement in the room sets off picture projections of black/white shadowy figures that run, turn, fall, etc. After a short time the shadows fade to black. This gives rise to the feeling of the slow disappearance of graphic people that populate the room along with the viewer. The viewer's movements control the number of figures, their position and the speed of their disappearance. As long as the viewer moves, the figures leave an expanding trail. Thus the viewer develops a sense of time through his personal activity. Time and space are perceived as functions of the ego. Another picture level becomes visible inside the contours of the shadows. Children's faces smile, look, turn and follow the shadow figures. These childhood pictures conjure up a feeling of memory that produce an exceptional time/space sense in the audience.

In his installation 'Supper at Last', Dalibor Maritinis collected Donald Duck, James Joyce, Marilyn Monroe, Wiston Churchill, Freud, a time announcer and other representatives of our century in his version of the last supper. A table is set with 13 chairs and candlelight. The props are real, the menu consists fantasy treats served through a video projection. The prominent guests are present acoustically. On the table hands spoon out soup and slice meat, plates are exchanged for desert bowls. Quotes in several European languages fly over the table, too fast to be understood. The voices of the guests can be listened to through headphones at the appropriate seat. On one channel there is silence.