Escape

Laurent Mignonneau and Christa Sommerer

Interactive installation developed for The View Contemporary Art Space Switzerland

Austria 2012

“The installation Escape deals with the issue of flight attempt. It was originally developed as a site specific installation in the civilian air raid shelter in Salenstein, Switzerland, as part of Sommerer and Mignonneau’s solo show at the The View Contemporary Art Space.

The installation consists of an antique film projector and an antique projection screen from the 1940s. The projector was modified to hold a small video projector and some sensor technology.

When visitors enter the room, they see a fat fly sitting on the projection surface of the screen. Once they start turning the handle of the old projector, the fly starts to frenetically move around, like it would be trapped, trying to escape. As they continue to move the handle, more and more flies come, packing themselves together as if they would have discovered some nutrition on the screen surface. At one point, a text starts to form out of the fly pack and, when one continues to turn the handle, the text becomes legible. It is a chapter from The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, where the protagonist Gregor Samsa realizes that he has transformed into a gigantic insect overnight.” (http://www.interface.ufg.ac.at/christa-laurent/)

Christa Sommerer, born 1964 in Austria, lives and works in Linz, Austria.

Laurent Mignonneau, born 1967 in France, lives and works in Linz, Austria.