PS (Phase Shifting) is inspired by the work of the Situationists’ main figure and self-proclaimed leader Guy Debord, mostly the discussions of the role of mediation and social relationships in The Society of The Spectacle and its actual performance derives from ‘driftings’ through the city as an immediate reaction on Guy Debord’s instructional Theory of the Dérive. PS, instead of suggesting a new model of the city, as was the Situationists’ ideal, proposes a mapping of the experience of ‘walking the city’. PS serves itself of the body and video projections to relate to and be read by a given audience.
Debord usually defines dérive as ‘a technique of transient passage through varied ambiences’. A taste for transience and spontaneity that suggests a wandering through the city that should be determined not by any preconceived plan but by the attractions or discouraging counter-attractions of the city itself.
PS is a live dance movie installation performance designed to be performed in the city, about the city and for those in the city where it takes place. In this case the city of Amsterdam, where it premiered.
CLICK on the image for a video of PS
The great majority of multimedia projects that involve the body or some sort of performance leave the viewer either staring at the video projection or struggling to follow the performer. Mostly, the video image usually overrules or leaves no space for the viewer to ‘drift’. Our desire is to transcend this either/or relationship and promote a true dialogue between the two disciplines, an exchange of mediums. In other words, give true motion and liveliness to the projected image – by literally providing it with a pair of legs and a choosing mind – as well as let the body find its proper place as a means of interaction in and around the video image.
PS is comprised of a preset movement/gesture score/phrase and a preset video score. Igor, the video artist, is allowed to chose the place of projection of the image: the floor, the ceiling, etc. For the Club 11 in Amsterdam, projection panels were built on the walls especially for the occasion. Towards the last section of the performance, a video of that evening’s audience, which is previously recorded while they enter the space – with the performer and video artist equally portrayed – , replaces the set recording of city images. The performer then proceeds to improvise inspired by viewers on the previously recorded image and the ‘live’ audience’s gestures and movements taking place at the actual moment of the improvisation. In Amsterdam, the performance ended with a projection of the windows of the Club 11 – recorded beforehand during the day of the performance – and the tearing of the paper where this image is projected, to reveal the ‘real’ windows behind the paper that then revealed Amsterdam’s night city view at the actual moment of the action.
In Amsterdam, for The Club 11, a video-dérive was shot for the 6 gigantic screens – 3 trios on each side of the space placed higher than the panels on opposite walls, as if reflecting each other. Each of these six screens displayed the video of a one-shot short ‘dérive’ through the city of Amsterdam set in extreme slow motion. The shot repeats itself but in reverse exactly in the middle of the performance so as to emphasize the idea of reflection. The sound – distorted by the slow motion – joined the actual sound of the restaurant and the lobby of Club 11 to represent the city that, in ‘reality’, encompasses the building of the Club 11.
In Amsterdam, PS was made possible by Practicum Generale Fonds.
