This weekend, FACT sees the opening of AND festival in its 5th year and a new exhibition by artist-filmmaker Mark Boulos.
Echo is the centerpiece of Boulos’s exhibition. Producing an eery ‘reflection’ of the spectator against an urban backdrop, the doppelganger speaks and moving in real-time, but getting progressively desynchronised as the viewer watches.
The result is an immersive experience, using heightened sound and playing on the perception of what is ‘real’.
Echo is featured alongside three of the 38-year-old American’s previous video works.
Speaking about the exhibition, Mark said: “Echo is an immersive video project that uses a combination of new video technologies and 19th Century stage magic illusion to create the ghostly image that the viewer can see in front of them.
“It’s been in the making for a couple of years now. I was first inspired by the work of cognitive neuroscientist Olaf Blanke.
“He uses 3D video to manipulate perception and create a sense of dislocation in his test subjects – he tries to replicate pathological neurological mental states using 3D video, particularly out of body experiences.
“I was interested in creating a sense of disembodiment and seeing how an installation and 3D effects can manipulate and affect that.
“It’s more of a technological project than I’ve done in the past – it’s been a long time coming and a long time in the making.
“My previous work that is also on display for the exhibition is around capitalism, imperialism and the revolutions surrounding that.
Abandon Normal Devices (AND) is a showcase of art, digital culture and new cinema. The programme this year includes pieces that blur the boundaries between art, science and cultural activism – artists that make the impossible possible.
New to the festival programme this year is the AND Fair on Saturday 5th October, which will play on the format of the World Fairs of old.
The Fair invites artists to demonstrate both the fantastical and the primitivism of new technologies, with optical illusions, flying machines, biological probes and computer algorithms.
Mark Boulos’s exhibition is open at FACT until 21st November. AND Festival runs with various events from today until 5th October.
For more details and a schedule of AND events, visit fact.co.uk or andfestival.org.uk