Page 141 - Cyberculture and New Media

132 The Implicit Body
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Figure 3. step inside (2004), 3x3x3 meters (inside, outside variable),
Nathaniel Stern. Installation view and performance documentation.

A wall panel text invites “participants to perform, direct, react to,
and interact with, the images and sounds they create. It asks them to try
walking, crawling, gesturing, with their bodies; play between silence and
tapping, scratching, audio-theatrics on the floor.” Over time, Stern observes,
“I’ve watched astute experimenters adapt their bodies to direct their images
and sounds - a purposeful performative act.”
The projection wall is actually a two-sided screen, so there are both
interactive participants, and more passive viewers engaging with the step
inside installation.

External, non-participant viewers will also see the
performer’s projected image, but not their bodies or actions
inside the space. They can only guess the intent of step
inside’s participant, who can likewise only attempt to
promote a well-read representation of self. There’s a literal
wall between what we project with our performance, and
how this might be perceived.