inside-out-world[s].

«viewpoints» [ space]
image and sound installation

in collaboration with andreas schmid
BITFACTORY GALLERY, DENVER, USA
16.8. – 12.9.2019

 

[Idea] for the multimedia installation of «viewpoints» [...]
by the artist Brigitte Moeckli and the musician Andreas Schmid


Once a month over a period of one year, the artist Brigitte Moeckli, living in Zollikon near Zurich (Switzerland), and the musician Andreas Schmid, living in Denver, Colorado (USA), exchanged randomly taken photographs of their respective environment. These pictures formed the basis for drum compositions that they each recorded separately in their respective homes and produced on a CD.

The visual part of the installation was designed by Brigitte Moeckli, projecting the animated photographs as a time sequence on a wall, following the monthly rhythm of their exchange.  This creates an awareness of time and space as a visual flow in which actual physical locality loses its significance. The underlying drum-based composition enhances the character of a steady flow even if the quality and characteristic of the sound differs over time. Andreas Schmid, as a professional musician, cultivates a rhythmically precise repertoire of styles, while Brigitte Moeckli, as a lay musician, practices a more intuitive approach.  

 

The images invite the viewer to travel through an archetypal world, creating a state of awakened dreaming. The beam of light projecting the waves of color of the individual images is redirected on two side walls, where dreamlike figures become visible, created by the random movement of the air: a reference to the unnamable force which creates our dreams and is part of our inner experience.

The images have personal, local and archetypal character and can be seen and enjoyed on all three levels. Themes such as civilization versus natural forces, spirituality versus consumption, emptiness versus abundance, structure versus freedom, light versus darkness, isolation versus communication, coolness versus relatedness, joy versus sadness, migration versus stability, as well as manipulative communication, altered states of consciousness, and violence are all given a face. The images inspire personal reflections on these themes, and the installation as a whole enchants the visitor with its unexpected humor and emotionally moving moments.

 

The photographs were all taken on cell phone cameras. Andreas Schmid used the camera in a first generation phone, while Brigitte Moeckli worked with an iPhone 6. The two different photographic qualities raise the question of how our awareness of the world is changing as we are confronted with increasingly perfect images which, as such, are influencing our visual reference system.

The photographs are available as fine art prints mounted on aluminum dipond plates. Each photograph is limited to three prints.