NotMakeSense

interactive video installation project

NotMakeSense (2016) is an interactive video installation project with a specific goal to promote and increase the awareness of cultural diversity. The installation was awarded in XXVII Edition of ‘Circuitos de Artes Plásticas’ (Circuits of Fine Arts) of the Community of Madrid. It consists of a series of screens that surround the spectator-protagonist of the art work, as well as a microphone, placed in the centre. Different people waiting and distracted appear on the screens, until some curious participant takes courage to speak by the microphone. The sound is programmed in such a way that the moment someone utters a word, their voice is heard in a distorted way, altering the message, making it incomprehensible. At that moment, the people on the screens look at the speaker, with strange expressions, trying to understand what they are saying. It is then that the spectator will adopt the role of a migrant, situating themselves in the place of the other. It is about recreating a situation of what the migrant expects, often with anxiety, when trying to establish communication with the natives, frustrated to notice some linguistic clumsiness, as the French philosopher of Bulgarian origin Julia Kristeva points out.

According to the author’s reflections, the way to move between two languages and therefore between two identities is silence. In order to be situated between two or more identities, the foreigner often prefers silence, rather than the attempt of communication that makes them feel impotent.

It seems that in the end it is not possible to break the barrier between migrant/spectator/emitter and its observer/receiver.

This artistic project questions social relations through communication, which can often be perceived as frightening. And just because of these fears, many of the visitors are going to prefer silence and will not interact with the art work.

NotMakeSense explores the difficulty of establishing links with the surrounding world, shows the frustration of migrants who, deprived of their own biography and roots, devoid of a unifying language, are lost in translation. But NotMakeSense also speaks about the difficulty that many people have in communicating with others, for different reasons, such as shyness, some minor speech defect or any other relational circumstance that many have undoubtedly experienced at some point in their life.

Awarded project in XXVII Edition of ‘Circuitos de Artes Plásticas’ (Circuits of Fine Arts) of the Community of Madrid (2016).

Awarded also by the jury with an artistic residence in LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón (2017).

Year of Creation: 2016

Technique: Custom-software, Five HD screens, microphone, computer

Room conditions: The piece requires a darkened and quiet room, preferably with walls painted in gray. A spotlight has to illuminate the place where the visitor should be placed in front of the microphone.

Dimensions: Variable screen size and number. At least 5 screens – 32″.

Credits