C.O. Journey # 2
C.O. Journey #2 invites you to take your seat in a cinema-sized camera obscura. A camera obscura is an optical device whose properties have been known for centuries: when a light source shines through a tiny hole into a dark interior, an inverted image of the outside world appears on the opposite wall. According to art historian Jonathan Crary, however, the camera obscura is more than just an optical instrument, it is as it were a philosophical metaphor for the ambiguous relationship between man as an observer and the world.
In C.O. Journey #2 the spectator is placed inside the image while at the same time experiencing the odd realization that the performance is taking place outside the box and more specifically behind him or her. The central subject of the performance is a staging of the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck. This tableau vivant, the visual distortion to which it is subjected and the far-fetched historical account that accompanies the piece all contribute to an atmosphere of unease. In this way an ambiguous relationship arises between the images and information that reach the darkened box and ourselves, explicitly throwing us back on our own subjective points of view.
In C.O. Journey #2 the spectator is anything but a passive viewer; he or she participates in the complexity of an image. Using simple means, Bailie and Ragg take us on a journey through the history of image-making while in the process offering resistance to the superficial ‘gaze of the consumer,’ to the constant stream of images we have to digest on a daily basis.
Credits
Concept & Realization: Joanna Bailie & Christoph Ragg
Dramaturg: Helga Baert
Movement coach: Mette Edvardsen
Technical assistant: Caroline Daish
Production: Mokum vzw
Co-production: Buda (Kortrijk), Vooruit (Gent), Workspace (Brussels)
Realization camera obscura: Lucas Coeman & Jan Vandenbussche
Realization costumes: Gilberte Voorspoels
In collaboration with: Netwerk (Aalst)
With the support of: the Flemish Community, De Pianofabriek Werkplaats (Brussels)
Thanks to Rosas, Bains Connective, Nadine