Jarbas Jácome

Crepúsculo dos Ídolos

Abstract:
“For what is freedom? That one has the will to self-responsibility. That one maintains the distance which separates us.” F.W. Nietzsche, In: Twilight of the Idols, 1888 (Based on Walter Kaufmann translation) “Crepúsculo dos Ídolos” offers to visitor a sensory experience with TV in a different way from the one we used to have in day-to-day. In this installation, instead of a passive spectator, the visitor may exercise a control over the image being conveyed by one of TV networks at that time with his own voice or making any other sound. This control is an interaction mechanism that distorts TVs images with visual effects which intensity varies according the sound captured by a microphone. That will be made until a given moment when distorted TV image is switched by visitors own image captured by a camera. This installation consists of a darkened room with 5 TVs connected to an open channel, without audio, just transmitting the image of normal TV programming that is being shown in current moment. For example, in the evening, at 20:30, the TVs are showing a “novel of the eight.” It has a microphone in front of TVs. A white spot light (the only light in the room beyond TVs) from the ceiling toward the microphone guide who is positioned in front of the microphone. The microphone position, the silence and darkness of the room and the spot light work as an invitation to visitors to experience talk something at microphone. If this occurs, the intensity of sound captured by microphone controls an effect of distortion the TVs images, such as saturation, explosion or reversal of the colors, image deformation, image noise, etc. The higher the sound produced by the visitor greater the intensity of the effect caused the image that will be the same for the 5 TVs. If visitor keep more than 3 seconds producing sounds without stopping, the image of TVs – which at the moment is the image of channel being distorted by sound, is suddenly replaced by the image of visitor himself. The visitor image will continue appearing until his/her stop producing sound for a period of time that exceeds 5 seconds, returning to be displayed in each TV, the image of the channel, as before. Thus, every time you produce a sound continuously for more than 3 seconds, the TVs will display your image. And when visitors stop sound for more than 5 seconds his image disappear and be replaced by channel image. This mechanism of interaction and real-time integrated audiovisual processing is possible with the use of software ViMus, created by the author of this installation as result of his master degree research in computer science. This research won “Rumos – Arte Cibernética, Instituto Itaú Cultural”.

Biography:
Musician holder of a master’s degree in computer science from CIn-UFPE, researching on systems for real-time audiovisual processing. In 2009, received the Sergio Motta Art and Technology Award. In 2007, received the Itaú Cultural Arte-Cibernética Award because of master’s degree about free software ViMus. Exhibited at FILE-RIO 2009, FILE-SP 2008, Arte.Mov 2009, Coquetel Molotov 2009, On_Off 2009 and Emoção Art.ficial 4.0. Have been guitar player of bands Negroove and re:combo.