"Megalotopia" explores the notion of uchronic time, specific to digital art.
Crédits photos : Karleen Groupierre
The French artist Karleen Groupierre has created “Megalotopie”, an artwork that invites us to reflect on ourselves and others. During this interactive experience, participants are both spectators and actors in the installation. “Mégalotopie” is part of the selection for the 7th edition of the Recto VRso digital art festival, taking place on April 11-14, 2024.
From observation to interaction
In this interactive installation, the participant is placed in front of a screen with a golden frame. A 7-minute short film is projected in front of him, with people who are themselves facing a frame. We soon realise that the participant in the experiment is being filmed, and his image is projected in the frame that the characters in the short film are watching. From there, a mise en abyme is created, encouraging reflection on self-perception.
The participant is confronted with his own augmented image, and becomes the object of attention of these people from a short film. The film is based on scenes from TV series and films, rewritten for the occasion in a caricatured way, in which the characters criticise pictorial artworks. The result is absurd dialogue and exaggerated reactions.
The short film is designed to build to a crescendo, until the characters are in a trance. But this ecstasy becomes absurd, questioning the critical gaze we cast on everything and everyone, including ourselves. The spectator becomes a spectator being watched, a critic being criticized. The artwork questions our need for recognition from others and our relationship with compliments. The artist asks the question: “Couldn’ t the recognition we seek from others already be found in ourselves?”
Birth of a third uchronic time
In “Megalotopia”, two temporalities coexist. The first is the short film shot in the past. The second is the viewer, filmed in real time, in the present. The duality of these two temporalities creates a third: the temporality of the work. Artist Karleen Groupierre refers to this as uchronic time: “These three temporalities come together, so Megalotopie as an experience can be experienced as an uchronic time.“
The concept of uchrony dates back to the 19th century. It was a genre that involved rewriting history by changing an element of the past. For example, what would have happened if the Allies had lost the Second World War? Researcher Edmond Couchot talks about “out of time”. For him, this is a new kind of time that is specific to digital technology, a simulation that does not refer to any universal convention of time. Digital time then becomes a time without time, in other words, a timeless time.
By bringing several temporalities together, Karleen Groupierre changes the relationship and place of the viewer in the work. “Mégalotopie”, which combines an innovative narrative approach with new technologies, will be exhibited on April 11-14 during the Recto VRso festival.
