Roisin Berg

Displaced

A blacked-out, symmetrically arranged room is lit by detached screen backlights. An array of LCD panels faces down towards viewers from a large wooden frame. Projected videos of the room play in slow motion and fade in an out on the LCD panels. As the LCD panels darken, their specular properties are revealed, showing an immediate mirror image of that which is in front of them, encased in a dark void.
Displaced is an exploration of the mirror image that transcends the initial narcissistic fascination with the Self into territories of creative self-transformation that can have profound implications for our self-consciousness and modes of self-projection. Through its use of LCD panels, it aims to illustrate an understanding of the reflective qualities of the screen as a material, from the gaze it both emanates and attracts to the peculiar aesthetic experience of mediated subjectivity. Through the implementation of closed-circuit video, Displaced presents viewers with two versions of their specular doubles: one that has been manipulated by a digital system and one that hasn't. The juxtaposition of the specular with the digital aims to highlight the impact of the screen on the process that constitutes our subjectivity.