An exhibit of three works by Jean-Louis BOISSIER that are a continuation in theory and practice of his research in interactivity and virtuality. In “Globus oculi” (1992–93), the movements of a trackball resembling a human eye directly trigger the appearance of fragments of interactive images. In this work, which simulates both the processes of a child’s discovery of the world and the birth of art, the relations between the eye and the hand, and sight and touch are thematized. “Flora petrinsularis” (1993) is a new type hypermedia book inspired by ROUSSEAU’s Confessions. When a page of the book is turned, such images as a woman’s subtle gestures or the blossoming of flowers appear on the screen, each changing with the movement of the trackball. “Album” (1989–95), a collection of representative images from BOISSIE’s career in film and photography, is a union in hypermedia form of two artistic experiences: reading books (lecture) and watching films (spectacle). The viewer experiences a new reality through the interactive reactions of sound and image fragments. The exhibit pursued the relationship between “logic and sensibility” by investigating whether “software”—representing logic—could be transformed into something “sensual” by appearing on a computer screen. An international ISDN connected ICC’s exhibition of “Album” with BOISSER’s solo exhibit simultaneously being held in Paris. This was an attempt through the exchange of image files to add new pages to “Album.”
Excerpted from “ICC Concept Book,” NTT Publishing, 1997