Audiovisual installation w/ laser
Stereophonic diffusion
Single-ch video projection / Single-ch laser projection
Duration : 09’00 (loop)
Long before the manufacturing of the first laser, in 1960 by Theodore Maiman, and when no one apart from a handful of specialists was aware of Einstein’s prediction of the phenomenon of stimulated emission (1917), the laser already « exist » for the general public. Many science fiction authors have called to the existence of an overpowered and directive light ray, capable of destroying everything in its path.
In 1898, HG Wells described, in « the war of the worlds », a heat ray prefiguring with impressive acuity our modern lasers. The heat ray is then the incarnation of the absolute weapon. It is therefore not surprising that this all-powerful fantasy, permeating the popular culture of the first half of the last century, led to oversized reactions when the announcement of its practical manufacturing was made to the public. Public opinion ignited for the discovery: the myth-turned-truth made even the most serious scientific commentators of the time lyrical.
The technological prophecies of artists before the 1960s brought out at the same time the retrofuturist trend in which the laser have a special place. Timeless, it arouses in the minds of the spectators an imaginary as much retrofuturistic, nostalgic and reassuring, as futuristic, stimulating and disturbing. Past, present and future at the same time.
hex/A\ is an installation that fuses audio, video, and laser into a unified, immersive experience. Drawing on collective imagination through its retrofuturistic dimension, the work evokes the past, present, and future as a single, timeless symbol.
hex /A\ is co-produced by Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig & Bright festival
CREDITS
Concept, programing, music, visual : Alex Augier
Co-Production : Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig, Bright Festival
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