It’s Time To Open The Black Boxes! - Liberté

Black Aluminum Box
Dimensions: 36 x 27 x 17 cm (Close) / 36 x 38 x 43 cm (Open)
Part of the Art Installation "IT’S TIME TO OPEN THE BLACK BOXES!", 2012.

The installation comprises 100 black aluminum boxes geometrically positioned on the floor equidistant from one another, so as to form a rectangular grid. The boxes’ lids are open at an angle. Inside each box a black screen is positioned at a 45 degree angle in relation to the floor. The boxes are surfaced with translucent mirrors, thus creating the illusion that they are filled to the rim with a liquid substance and that the screens within them are submerged in polluted water akin to an oil slick. Upon entering the exhibition space the viewer is confronted by a mixture of sounds such as beeps, heartbeats, explosions and flat-lines. As one approaches and walks through the installation it becomes apparent that the screens inside the boxes are displaying words and numbers. Each word appears for a few seconds before being replaced by either a numeric countdown or a count-up (depending on the word). As the numbers race (down toward zero or up to a specially chosen limit), their pace, style and accompanying sounds resemble a ticking bomb. When the countdown, or count-up, reaches its climax, each box emits the sound of either an explosion or a flat-line. These sounds are designed so as to intensify the sensation of tension, crisis, and alarm.