Audience
an installation by rAndom international and Chris O’Shea (circa 2008).
The installation includes 64 mirror objects, each controlled by 2 servos for pan and tilt. These objects would orientate towards themselves and when someone appeared in the space, they would pause, then all turn to face the person. They would track a visitor around the room, but move on to someone else if they got bored (based on various scoring) or continue to chat between themselves. The mirrors can be positioned anywhere and any angle, calibrated in a way to always look roughly at the area of a visitors face.
The installation aims to reverse the roles of the viewer and the viewed during this in-voluntary interaction. It seeks to establish a different kind of relationship between viewer and technology. Will other members of the audience experience the sensation of being ignored or excluded when they are not the centre of attention? Will the installation create a feeling of un-ease and unsettlement? The work investigates if machines can evoke diverse emotional reactions with the simplest of mean
