OPEN HEAD 1998
Open Head is Marnix de Nijs’s first interactive installation. Engine-powered the machine rotates a monitor attached to an arm of steel, which can reach a top speed of 120 km/hour. A visible image only appears on the screen when it is transformed by both the gravitational force on the monitors cathode tube and the shutter effect created from the speed of the spinning image.
If there are no onlookers the machine remains at
a constant base-speed. However, when a visitor oversteps the outlined
boundary and comes precariously close to the machine, it will accelerate
and consequently allow them to clearly see the generated images.
In our constantly upgraded information culture we are forced to
continually absorb information faster. This installation seeks to
explore the possibility of influencing our visual perception of
speed. At what price and at what length will we go to in order to
perceive an image? Open Head dangerously whisks past us. And yet
we are intrigued. Being enticed any closer would be like tempting
fate but then again should we simply resolve ourselves to leaving
the monitor alone to cope with the spinning action?