Frenchgate Centre, installed in Doncaster, UK, 2004, Digital Video Installation
Frenchgate
Shaw’s
commissioned piece explores our understanding of
spectatorship reflecting something that occurred in the
same space in the past – a self-imaging: something
more akin to surveillance. A video camera was mounted on a
pedestal and installed in the Shopping Centre, giving it
the appearance of an exhibit in itself – like a
sculptural intervention which allows visitors to interact
with directly. Revolving independently, without the
presence of the artist, the camera was simultaneously
unobtrusive and intriguing, inviting visitors to come and
investigate it. As it revolved, the camera recorded
continuous moving images of the space at 3 frames per
second. This slow shutter speed meant that the static
background of the centre was recorded blurred and
distorted, while the visitors circling the camera, watching
themselves on the monitor, remained in focus. The viewer is
drawn into a shuffling dance of capture and evasion in
which the participants seem to drive the process. The
second part of the installation using the same location, is
the projection of the edited film onto a video wall. Since
control over the digital film lies with the spectator, the
piece allows each viewer to become part casual observer,
part voyeur, and part director, deciding what aspects of
the work are projected and seen. Potentially, with every
new ‘controller’ infinite variations and
visions are revealed.
Commissioned by D-Frost
festival of Ice, Fire and Light