[ISEA2022] Artists Statement: Monika Fleischmann & Wolfgang Strauss — Liquid Views

Artists Statement

June 9 – August 21, Santa Mònica Art Centre, Artworks from ISEA2022’s open call. Public Event.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, interactive, Narcissus, neural network, realtime

In “Liquid Views” the audience participates in a Narcissus experience behind the digitally activated mirror. A touchscreen with a mini camera simulates a water surface and reflects the viewer’s image. By touching the screen, participants activate algorithms that generate waves that distort and dissolve the viewer’s reflection.

Narcissus’ digital mirror – Ovid’s metamorphosis as a real-time wave AI algorithm.
Liquid Views simulates a pool of water that reflects the image of viewers whose physical interaction ultimately disturbs the integrity of the reflection. Liquid Views anticipates the selfie moment of Greek mythology, in which the image and the self are becoming increasingly difficult to parse. In this interactive installation, audiences participate in a digitally activated “mirror of Narcissus” experience as a monitor equipped with a touchscreen and mini camera simulates a water surface that appears to reflect the image of the viewer. By touching the screen’s surface, participants activate algorithms that generate waves and the sound of water, that distort and dissolve the viewer’s reflection.

Additional intervention increases the disturbance, and the image can only regain its calm form by the absence of contact between participant and screen. In the background, the participant’s mirrored face is displayed on a large projection, turning the “introverted” gaze into a public spectacle. Looking up, the interacting person perceives themselves from a different perspective – as if from the outside.

Wherever interactive environments and audience “talk” to each other, participants develop performative presence, and their participation contributes to a new embodied knowledge. The visitor is simply asked to take part and explore this Mixed Reality World as a “thinking space”. “Liquid views” is a pioneering work that takes up one of the central themes of media art by exploring the interface between the real and virtual world.

  • Monika Fleischmann & Wolfgang Strauss are pioneers of media art and virtual reality. In 1987, they were co-founders of ART + COM in Berlin (The Billion Dollar Code). In 1996 they founded the MARS – Exploratory Media Lab (Media Arts Research Studies), and in 2005 the eCulture Factory at the Fraunhofer Research Association. Their awards include patents, the Ars Electronica Golden Nica (1992) and the SIGGRAPH Lifetime Achievement Award in Digital Art (2018). Early work includes “Berlin-Cyber City” (1989), in which Fleischmann and Strauss memorialize aspects of Berlin’s history while imagining the city’s possible futures, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. A subsequent cartographically informed project “Semantic Map” (2001-04) traces neural networks, foretelling a method of data analysis now standard in artificial intelligence. In “Home of the Brain” (1989-1991), participants are introduced to virtual reality, while the iconic “Liquid Views” (1992) anticipates the selfie moment. https://www.fleischmann-strauss.de

With support of the Center for Art and Media | ZKM