My interpretation of this short work, which Schwitters wrote during his period of internment on the Isle of Man is a foreigner’s response the recognised British habit of avoiding an awkward truth when speaking face to face
When people deliberately go out of their way to mask the truth, the person on
the receiving end of their ‘compliment’ becomes confused to the point that the boundaries between honesty and frankness, lies and deceit become fragmented, if not completely blurred. I have attempted to immerse the viewer into this belief by animating the story’s text and further diffracting the projected image through a multifacetted glass crystal.
Needless to say, it will be impossible to follow the story in the accepted way, however, the viewer is able to catch fleeting glimpses of key words and phrases; hopefully enough to pick out elements of truth from a highly distorted background.
I have connected the above projection map to my Merz box via a printed weblink on a strip of acetate. This is concealed within a 3D model of a crystal I constructed, using a commercial, holographic laminate-faced board. The ‘crystal’ rests centrally within a recess, surrounded by highly reflective, red holographic laminate board to create an illusion of the crystal glowing red to various degrees when viewed at various angles and in different lighting conditions.
When people deliberately go out of their way to mask the truth, the person on
the receiving end of their ‘compliment’ becomes confused to the point that the boundaries between honesty and frankness, lies and deceit become fragmented, if not completely blurred. I have attempted to immerse the viewer into this belief by animating the story’s text and further diffracting the projected image through a multifacetted glass crystal.
Needless to say, it will be impossible to follow the story in the accepted way, however, the viewer is able to catch fleeting glimpses of key words and phrases; hopefully enough to pick out elements of truth from a highly distorted background.
I have connected the above projection map to my Merz box via a printed weblink on a strip of acetate. This is concealed within a 3D model of a crystal I constructed, using a commercial, holographic laminate-faced board. The ‘crystal’ rests centrally within a recess, surrounded by highly reflective, red holographic laminate board to create an illusion of the crystal glowing red to various degrees when viewed at various angles and in different lighting conditions.
