Pointing at Me
Museum Documentation
Detailed Picture
With my piece Pointing at Me , I try to use of technology to create an interactive and conceptually-rich experience for the viewer. The use of technology like Internet and digital cameras attracts more active participation and exposure by the audience as opposed to the past when the still galleries were prevalent. New media by means of technology is also by changing the position the viewer holds in relationship to a piece. Traditional artwork exists as independent of the viewer; new media instead claims that the viewer's involvement completes the work. In fact, the viewer is actually no longer a ‘viewer' anymore, just looking at artwork; with new media, the viewer becomes a ‘participant,' actively engaging with the artwork and adding meaning to it. Viewers act upon interactive installations and immerse into the work relatively intensely.
The piece involves a rotating plaster hand atop a metal pedestal. As the viewer approaches, the index finger begins to point directly at him as the other fingers fold down. In any culture, pointing one's index finger is incredibly rude and an indication that that person is singling out and ostracizing another person. By being pointed at, the viewer becomes the protagonist in the piece; he suddenly becomes implicated. His first concern is not directed toward how the finger has moved from an open-handed position to a pointing position but rather what he feels at the present moment. (In this case, three motors and two sensors are connected to the plaster hand via the metal pedestal and they control the hand's movement.) Without the technology, however, the viewer is not presented with an experience rich in context. In my work, especially in Gaze and Pointing at Me , technology becomes a catalyst that immerses viewers into the works while helping to convey the situation of being constantly on display as I had experienced daily as an immigrant.
Pointing at Me 2006