Open the Blind, Dec. 2004

Open the Blind is an interactive installation that raises issues about voyeurism and our desires related to peeping. It also explores new kinds of interfaces by re-functionalizing things we encounter in our everyday environments, but often go unnoticed.

Open the Blind is an interactive installation that raises issues about voyeurism and our desires related to peeping. It also explores new kinds of interfaces by re-functionalizing things we encounter in our everyday environments, but often go unnoticed. Although many of us open and close window blinds daily, we hardly think about them or their operation. The act has become automated. Open the Blind redefines the window blind as a computer interface through a trick that while seemingly simple opens up undiscloses possibilities of perception, deception and revelation, unleashing an uncanny game of hide and seek.

The image of a lady changing clothes is seen projected on the blind. The silhouette image entices visitors to see more. When the visitor turns the wand to open the blind, the action is detected by an embedded sensor. Instead of the image of a naked lady, the image of the visitor him/herself in the act of trying to peep is projected as a frozen image. With Open the Blind the visitor is unexpectedly forced to experience his/her own reflection. The voyeuristic experience is reversed, and momentarily frozen, the visitor caught in the act. The action also brings the blind interface to the foreground, changing its nature. Simultaneously the illusion of silhouette is shattered in a surprising but also humorous way.

Selected exhibitions and Honors

Programming Support : Osman Khan
Actress : Morrow Pettigrew
Video Documentation Support : Krister Olsson
Construction Support : Dawn Kasper