52 E 7th St. was part of a competition and exhibition sponsored by Electronic Arts at the Chelsea Art Museum. I worked on this project as part of team Vacancy - Albert Dang, Hee Jung, Kan-Yang Li, and myself.
52 E 7th St. is an exploration of the voyeuristic tendencies that people have in public and private spaces. In the film Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock demonstrates how observing others in this way often leads to blending perceptions of the eye with perceptions of the mind, thereby forming a dynamic narrative for the viewer to make interpretations of what he sees in both a conscious and a subconscious manner. The choice to use The Sims as a medium highlights how voyeuristic behavior objectifies our subject matter in order to make this process of interpretation more apparent. As Scott McCloud elucidates in Understanding Comics, the abstraction of form allows the viewer to project his own self on the depicted person. Through the use of a live web camera feed into one of the artist's apartments, 52 E 7th St. suggests that the projection of self from viewing the abstract also occurs when viewing real people in this way.
52 E 7th St. is an exploration of the voyeuristic tendencies that people have in public and private spaces. In the film Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock demonstrates how observing others in this way often leads to blending perceptions of the eye with perceptions of the mind, thereby forming a dynamic narrative for the viewer to make interpretations of what he sees in both a conscious and a subconscious manner. The choice to use The Sims as a medium highlights how voyeuristic behavior objectifies our subject matter in order to make this process of interpretation more apparent. As Scott McCloud elucidates in Understanding Comics, the abstraction of form allows the viewer to project his own self on the depicted person. Through the use of a live web camera feed into one of the artist's apartments, 52 E 7th St. suggests that the projection of self from viewing the abstract also occurs when viewing real people in this way.
Albert and Kyle working on constructing the main display casing.
The display case was modeled to represent a futuristic residential building.
Working on the Machinima content for the video displays. This being an EA sponsored event, the design criteria of the competition required the use of The Sims as a narrative component of a given project.
Installing the video displays in the installation case.
Setting up and testing the installation at the gallery.
Our project won 2nd place!
A scene from the video display.
A scene from the video display.
A scene from the video display.
