facialExpression

State of Art – Porte-Parole Mouthpiece (1996)

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Porte-Parole Mouthpiece (1996) – Krzysztof Wodiczko and Sung Ho Kim

http://interrogative.mit.edu/projects/1993/porte-parole

Krzystoff Wodiczko (Canadian, born Poland, 1943)
Videotape, monitor (mouthpiece, 3 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 7 inches), battery pack and documentation
MSU purchase, funded by the Friends of Kresge Art Museum Endowment, 97.9.A-F


Via: http://artmuseum.msu.edu/exhibitions/online/GiftsofArt_AcquisitionExhibition/1980-AD.html#panel-3
Krysztoff Wodiczko belongs to a genre of public artist who meld art with science and technology. He is a member of MIT’s Interrogative Design Group and is internationally renowned for his large-scale slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments. Since the late 1980s, he has developed a series of nomadic instruments for both homeless and immigrant operators that function as implements for survival, communication, empowerment, and healing.
In 1992, Wodiczko began Xenology: Immigrant Instruments, tools for “the immigrantÕs art of survival.” In the forms of a staff (Alien Staff), wings (Aegis) or a mouthpiece (Mouthpiece), these instruments include small LCD monitors that project an edited videotape of the wearer’s personal history. The series grew from Wodiczko’s own experience as an emigre. Born and trained in Poland under a socialist regime, Wodiczko settled in Canada in 1977, before moving to the U.S. in the 1980s. Created to be performed in urban centers, Xenology: Immigrant Instruments such as Mouthpiece opened dialogues between their operators and passersby, stimulating communication between the immigrant (the speechless stranger) and the native community.


Via: http://rhizome.org/editorial/2010/jan/26/porte-parole-mouthpiece-1996-krzysztof-wodiczko-an/
The Porte-Parole Mouthpiece is an instrument for strangers, its function is to empower those who are deprived of power.

This object encircles the jaw with a small video monitor and loud speakers placed directly over the wearer’s mouth, showing the lips moving in sync to the prerecorded narrative. It is designed to replace the hesitations and fearful silent of an immigrant’s personal voice with a fully formed version of the immmigrant’s story. It function both as a conduit of ones’ voice and image as well as a gag that blocks the mouth and prevents from speaking.

Porte-Parole transforms its user into a virtual subject, literally, a cyborg communicating through a high-tech device rather than your own bodily apparatus for speech. The small size screen drives viewers to come closer to the user face in order to see the image of the moving lips and hear the voice.

Experiment – Straight into the eyes

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Straight into the eyes is a critical experiment against the video conference media focused on the position of the webcam.
Eye direction has a strong importance for quality of emotional communication. Looking to the other on Skype (for instance) is the same than looking at his chin in reality.

To criticize this we will take a 2 steps process (using Skype):
1› Avoid the other eyes
Aim: Highlight importance of eyes direction
2› Correct eyes direction
Aim: Criticize webcam system “looking at the screen, not at the other”

Protocole:
Étude hypothético-déductive.
• Hypothèse :
Ne pas regarder quelqu’un dans les yeux lors d’une conversation met mal à l’aise, donne l’impression de ne pas voir ses sentiments compris par l’autre, est un frein à la perception de l’empathie et de l’implication.
Regarder droit dans les yeux en video-conférence corrige considérablement cette sensation pourtant assez négligée pour le moment.
• Methode :
Conversation sur 3 films vus et appréciés par les deux interlocuteurs
Pour chaque film 5 minutes de discussion sur une question précise :
Quel est ton personnage préféré et pourquoi ?
Quel est mon personnage préféré et pourquoi ?
À chaque film mon personnage préféré sera le même que celui de mon interlocuteur afin d’observer pour quelle situation l’interlocuteur perçoit le plus mon empathie.
Variable indépendante (contrôlée, “input”): direction des yeux
Iteration 1. lunettes de regard en coin,
Iteration 2. normale,
Iteration 3. droit dans les yeux.-
Variable dépendante (non contrôlée, réaction observée):
Intensité de la perception de l’empathie, de l’implication de l’interlocuteur,
• Materiel :
Ordinateur, webcam, camera, programme de capture d’écran et
1. lunettes de regard en coin
2. rien
3. webcam et bande adhesive
• Participants :
2 pour le moment
• Questions à poser :
Je fait une recherche sur l’attachement aux personnages de films et :
Quel film penses tu que j’ai préféré parmi les 3 ? qu’est ce qui te fait penser ça ?
À quel point penses tu que j’étais sincère ou non ?

Resultats :
Echec, processus des lunettes trop comique,
Echec, questions mal choisies,
Echec, trop peu de différence entre l’itération 2 et 3, couper la conversation Skype entre les différentes situations n’est pas idéal.


Click to see animated GIF