The Year's Midnight

Shadow Box 5

"The Year's Midnight" is an interactive installation that shows the viewers' image on screen, unprocessed, except for plumes of white or black smoke that emanate from their eye sockets until the whole display is filled with a dense smog. Live and recorded eyeballs extracted from the video accumulate on the bottom of the display, similar to traditional representations of St. Lucy. The project's name is the beginning of John Donne's "A Nocturnal Upon St. Lucy's Day, Being the Shortest Day", a mournful poem which inspires this work.

General info

Spanish name:
La Medianoche del Año
Year of creation:
2011
Technique:
Display, computer, digital webcam, custom software
Dimensions:
55 in display
Keywords:
indoor, generator, smoke, tracker, recorder
Edition:
6 Editions, 1 AP
Collectors:
Borusan Contemporary, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, North Carolina Museum of Art and private collectors

Exhibitions


Credits

  • Programming: Conroy Badger
  • Production Assistance: Stephan Schulz, Guillaume Tremblay, Tyson Parks
  • Tracking Engine: Seeing Machines - FaceAPI

Links


Bibliography