Borders

Borders is an interactive installation that translates movement into sound. With the work I seek to communicate the paradox inherent in boundaries –the line that divides but needs cooperation to exist– and put emphasis on the playful process of its creation.

Using 14 laser beams I created a gridded space with 49 intersections, each linked to a different tone which is audible only when a person stands at an intersection and interrupts two beams simultaneously. As soon as someone else moves into the same line and interrupts a beam that crosses another intersection the tone changes. When a number of people standing in the installation, are all positioned between the lines and at a ´safe´ distance from one another, nothing will be heard. In this way, people co-create a musical composition.

Growing up in Israel, a land plagued by border conflicts, I experienced the significance that nations place on borders from an early age. Though the national borders of European countries are fading fast, at a local level they are receiving renewed appreciation. The paradox inherent in borders is that they make a distinction but cannot be established without cooperation. A border is an agreement that exists only when both parties accept it. Allowing visitors in this installation to determine the borders is my way of making them aware of the playfulness of such dividing lines.

Borders was a graduation project for the Architectural Design Department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam).The installation was exhibited during the week of the graduation show in June 2004. I built the installation myself, with the help of friends, using only low-tech tools such laser beams from the market, a keyboard, etc. I graduated cum laude with this work.

kabels 2-2
keyboard boven