Alvaro Cassinelli: BoxedEGO, 2008

a peep-show box that absorbs the observer

BoxedEgo is a double trap for the Self. A peep-show box waiting in a corner of the exhibition space first captures the curiosity of the observer - and then the observer himself.

The box appears empty; however, if the observer talks or breathes, the box readily detects this human prey and traps it in its interior, effectively transforming the observer into its own object of observation. Indeed, a dwarfed, trully three-dimensional version of the observer (peering inside an even smaller box!) will slowly materialize inside the box (a short delay is introduced in the otherwise live video stream, so that for a very brief moment the observer may think he/she is seeing someone else). If the observer stays still, the illusion will come to an end and the box will gradually empty itself, expelling its human prey from a suggested infinite nested chain of boxed spaces.

BoxedEgo seeks to combine several pre-cinematographic techniques in order to create a magical out-of-body experience (stereoscope, diorama, peep-show box and synthetic pepper ghost effect). From the research perspective, this work can be seen as a preliminary experiment on the cognitive (and possible practical) aspects of time-delayed artificial autoscopy/heautoscopy (with micropsia).

More info: http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/boxedEgo/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• art
• illusion
• pre-cinematographic
• interface
• 3D
• self-observation
• peep-show
• out-of-body
• experience

[CheechFace]

Really cool idea. Would love to see it in person, be captured and escape to tell the tale.