FInal Year Studio - Research - Circulez Y'a Rien a Voir

circulez y'a rien a voir pic, originally uploaded by Jimbo (Alan James Wellock).

Image courtesy of www.manchesterurbanscreens.org.uk

Circulez Y'a Rien a Voir is a public space insatllation by Cécile Babiole, and was first displayed at the +/- L'Epicerie in Paris, in December 2001. Designed to fit in the space of a shop window to interact with passers by, this image and sound installtion's title roughly translates into "move along now, there's nothing to see." A statement a policeman might say to scatter a crowd of people.

A simple definition of the piece is that of a survillence work where the passer by generates images and sounds by moving around in front of the projection space. Any movement is captured by a camera and converted into graphic patterns and sound modulations on the display screen.

This piece of work is a good example of something that tackles the audience perceptions of how they interact with their environment. Making an inactive space such as a manakin filled shop window physically interactive engages the audience on many more levels than a simply window decoration could. The audience is forced to understand that although they might not take any notice of the place they pass through, the place does of them.

Fortunately this specific piece will be displayed at the 'Urban Screens Manchester' exhibition, in Cathedral Gardens on the 11th October 2007, so I think I will have a trip there, see it live and blog any other thoughts I have of it.

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