
In this generative video installation, viewers are presented with a digital interface which transforms into a meditation on observation and self-awareness. As participants approach, they encounter an unknown entity of digital avatars looking outwards. They carefully track their movements, creating an immediate and visceral sense of visual dialogue with the Other. Quite the opposite of surveillance, this is an invitation to explore the complex dynamics of seeing and being seen.
Through public mediation, drawing on Emmanuel Lévinas's concept of the Other, Michel Foucault's theories of observation and power, and Ad Reinhardt's consideration of the Black Square, the installation examines: Who is really watching who? An eye is not only watching, but acts as a mirror, reflecting our physical presence and our internalized patterns of self-observation.
The installation plays with what physiologists call "coenesthesia" – our immediate awareness of our own bodies in space and time. As viewers engage with the work, they become simultaneously spectator and performer, observer and observed, creating a dynamic feedback loop that challenges notions of spectatorship.
Summary
Release
Spring 2025
Credits
Simon Lesina-Debiasi - Concept, Design, and Construction
Selenay Kiray - Sound
Thanks
Funded by the Council for the Arts, the Office of the Arts and the department of Architecture at MIT