“American Shot,” created by Isabella Stefanescu, Carlito Ghioni and Klaus Engel was installed facing King Street in downtown Kitchener as part of CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum for Kitchener and Area). Two small cameras are installed on the screen for “American Shot” that film in live time the movement on the street, cars passing by, people walking, the streetlights flashing, etc. The images on the screen are forever changing with the motions of the environment. When someone approaches the screen, the cameras identify the face of the viewer and frame the head in a red box. The screen then goes to black before a short movie clip begins to play. The film is a tableau with no dialogue, and a storyline and characters that are left open to interpretation.
The viewers become engaged in their own umwelt, a term biologist, Jakob van Uexküll (1864-1944), established to mean one’s ‘self-world.’ In the case of “American Shot,” the umwelt, or personal bubble involves the viewer’s body and the screen, an engagement meant to spark reflection upon their own perceptions of their life-world. The framing narrative embodies the viewer both physically and mentally. The movie clips begin and end with a picture of the viewer and the red frame around the face indicates a bodied interaction while throughout the clip the viewer is used as interpreter. On one hand, this leads to feelings of specialness; after all, only a face can begin the clip, not a lamppost or a car. On the other hand, you as yourself, having started the clip are not so special as a unique individual. Your body is expendable, your face expendable, in fact, almost everything we do as human beings is expendable in one way or another. No, it is only your physicality within that particular environment that has enabled you to feel, even momentarily, special.
CAFKA 2009 is not the first time Stefanescu has joined up with Carlito Ghioni and Klaus Engel. In 2007/2008 they created “Transport”, an exhibition similar to “American Shot” but hosted around public transportation in Toronto. The motivation behind “Transport” is described as stories that “tell of encounters on subways, streetcars or buses, aiming to make public transport romantic and to give it a grunge glamour: the interesting life does not happen in your car – life happens in public transport, where you see people, hear people and meet people.” Likewise, “American Shot” is not a personal encounter with art; it is communal and introspective. For more information on Stefanescu visit her website at: http://www.isabella-stefanescu.com.
In an email interview with Stefanescu she writes, “The public scale and setting [of “American Shot”] influences the way we perceive and receive a story.” Just like at home, one feels awkward while watching a love scene with an elderly relative, or a child. In the case of interactive public art and “American Shot,” it is not only a matter of who else is watching the screen but also who is watching the audience. While we watch movie clips of people on-screen, people observe us watching. Likewise, the audience is looking at the screen alone and, in the process, closes off the activity around them, hence leading to feelings of unease. In a sense, through the combination of environment and cinema, the viewer faces part of their own identity by reflecting upon how they watch the performances of others. Perhaps, standing on a downtown sidewalk is a performance. “American Shot” begs the question: What other ways do we, as both audience and actor, perform in our everyday lives, and who is watching us?
