Installation: Up to you

That formal congruence is not enough to guarantee an adequate definition is true even when we compare contemporary installation to that great, all-inclusive modernist notion of the Gesamtkunstwerk, the total work of art.

"It is a spectacle, but without a stage; a game but also a daily undertaking; a signifier, but also a signified...the scene of carnival, where there is no stage, no `theatre' is thus both stage and life, game and dream, discourse and spectacle." (from the linguistic theory of the Russian Mikhail Bakhtin )

Reality is a very a temporary matter, it lasts for fractions of seconds and then becomes something else: an image we remember, a picture of some kind such as a painting, a drawing, a photograph or a textual description in a diary or nothing if the moment is discarded. The interactive space I created invites users to play with visual representations of memories, their connection to time and their contexts. It enables users to physically position themselves within an individually adjusted environment. Input possibilities include their name, starsign, colour choices and some text. The picture pool holds images of three categories: metaphors for precious moments, situations or things in our past plus pictures that inform either about ourselves or others and their potential of control. The way the images are composed and presented create closeness and distance at the same time, they act as metaphors and visual language.

Every time the user steps on one of the pressure pads he enters a new choice; also he physically positions himself within his environment and metaphorically within his own mind. Activated pressure pads cause images to simultaneously appear on the big background panels as well as in a monitor. The huge overlife size scale dimension of the panels alter the time and scale context of the viewer: He is put in the position of a inferior or a child, very small compared to the viewed objects of the surrounding environment, and shifted back in time into their own past. The "background" pictures (as in panel projections) and "foreground" pictures (as in monitor display) draw from two picture pools with a similar content, but different viewpoints, thus complimenting and reflecting each other while they interact with the user at the same time.

The impression of a moment gets individually interpreted and becomes something personal. Any kind of transmittion, like showing a created picture and/ or telling somebody the story of a event means a reproduction, makes additions necessary to make people understand who didn't experience the original context, and causes a change of reality. The original information gets mediated and manipulated, it experiences a kind of 'motion blur' during its travel through time. This distortion can be intended and intense as in propaganda, or can "just happen" when somebody tries to tell a story a little bit more interesting and emphasises a certain aspect of an event.Even if moments of reality get stored in our minds for our personal use or pleasure only, time works on it, the crisp colourful picture fades and if we don't take care about it will be lost forever. This is why mankind always collected tokens and souvenirs, created signs and reminders: To capture instants of their lifes and materialise them, so memories could be revitalised and passed on.

For my installation I digitised various kinds of imagery, abstract paintings, graphics, symbols, drawings, text and, of course, photography. The installation works with the notion of personal memory, collective memory and imposed memory. It deals with our conscious lifetime memories as far back as early childhood and as close as last nights advertisement, it also deals with memories beyond our individual lifes, that have been accumulated during evolution and which are buried in our subconscious.

"Threesomness" is the other important issue: The triangle is the physical shape of the space, nine two dimensional painted copies of triangles lead visually through the space and mark the sensitive areas, the user has three choices in each level, e.g. the "good" the "bad" and "the other" in the life time/childhood area, and three kinds of memory: life time memory, contemporary memory and inherited memory. As a symbolic shape the triangle is positioned between the stable and saturated square and the self-contained closed system of duality. It bears the notion of openness and the potential for change within a set constellation. It stands for communication that allows for external input.

The experience my installation conveys reconstructs today's media culture and acts as a metaphor for the self positioning game within society. Its about labelling, visual references, knowing, playing and breaking the rules, about action and composure. "Up to you" is effectively about "having a choice". Memories and their visual references are closely intertwined with time, context and personal interpretation. They operate as educational means of our inner nature and influence our acts. Reality is in a constant flow and continues to echo in our mind. Therefore we need to raise our awareness to recognise real images around and distinguish them from realistically created imitations.