When you move your hand over the projected image on the school desk-like table, like you would to flip a book’s page, the image moves either left and right accordingly, and the text that appears through the window scrolls. The scene edits are linked by keywords from the text, such as “self,” “time,” and “place,” and suggests new possibilities for literature by seeing, listening, reading, and looking, and therein intuitively accessing the world of French thinker Jean-Jacques ROUSSEAU (1712–78) via this moving image interface. BOISSIER states that he focused his attentions on “a story recomposed retrospectively in prose” of ROUSSEAU’s literature, envisioning an interactive piece that viewers experience in an intimate manner. The images were shot by BOISSIER himself, following ROUSSEAU’s actual footsteps. The sensuous imagery complements ROUSSEAU’s non-verbal subtexts. By weaving together these texts and images, viewers are invited on a journey to discover ROUSSEAU’s thinking, through encountering the visual experiences from which his texts were born.
“Sensitive Moments” [2000–08]
Jean-Louis BOISSIER
“Sensitive Moments”