Drop Ceiling, by Chris Kaczmarek 2005
This piece, Drop Ceiling was originally installed at the Pelham Arts Center, NY in 2005.
It consists of the modification of a ceiling and floor within the Center. As visitors pass by the installation, sounds are played in sync with the visitor’s. This ticks the curiosity of the latter, which is temped to look into one of the two holes in the ceiling. Both orifices contain a “[...] a cavernous space beyond, which is bathed in red” and a television monitor that is playing a loop, independantly of the actions brought to the interactive floor.
What I like about this installation is that it it ubiquitous and could be installed within any public space. It does not have to be in a museum or a gallery. In fact, it is better if it is not in a gallery because it will surprise the viewer twice as much, as encountering the piece would be utterly unexpected.
Another interesting element is the “unlinkedness” of the sound and video. Upon discovery of the piece, the viewer will most probably realize what is going on. The setting for “art” proper and reality has been broken. The viewer probably expects the installation to be interactive in the whole, which is not the case. Therefore, quite a bit of time might be spent on trying to analyze the what is going on between what they do and what is happening on the monitor (which is completely independant).
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