In the Threatbox.us installation, the visitor’s movement through the exhibition space is tracked by a computerised vision system that drives a robotic video projector, which at times seemingly attacks visitors with a movie frame.
A montage of violent excerpts from films, news media, and computer games—intercut with domestic scenes of people passively engaged in mass media entertainment—moves across the walls of the exhibition space in a fluid pattern.
When a visitor enters the computer’s field of vision, the robotic projector attacks her with the movie frame by moving towards her and transforming into a purple spotlight that pursues her. The visitor is tracked for a predetermined time or until they walk out of range.
The projection then moves back to the wall and continues to play the montage. Pointing to the connection between military, industry, and entertainment that characterises the digital medium, Sester turns the visitor into a target of violent imagery rather than a passive consumer.
Marie Sester is a media artist currently based in Los Angeles.
She began her career as an architect, having earned her master’s degree from l’École d’Architecture in Strasbourg. Her interest, however, shifted from how to build structures to how place, cultural values, and political ideas are intertwined and affect our understanding of the world.
Her work particularly questions the societal perspective of the West. Her installation work has exhibited internationally, including the 1997 Gwangju Biennial; Kunsthalle Bern (1998); New Langton Arts (San Francisco, 1999); Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (2000); San Jose Museum of Art (2001); Siggraph (San Diego, 2003); Ars Electronica (Linz, 2003); The Kitchen (New York, 2004); Villette Numérique (Paris, 2004); the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM, 2005); Casino Luxembourg (2006).
Her installation Access received an Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, 2003), received the Webby Award for Net Art (2004), and was listed in the ’50 Coolest Websites’ in the online edition of Time magazine (2004). She has recently had residencies at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts andSciences (IAMAS) (Japan, 2002); Eyebeam (New York, 2003); and the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts, 2005).
She has received numerous grants, including the Creative Capital Foundation (New York, 2002); New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA,2003); LEF Foundation (2004); and Franklin Furnace Fund (2004).
