s . i . g . n . a . l .
Art Radionica Lazareti, Dubrovnik, Croatia - August 2004
‘s.i.g.n.a.l.’ is a 12-hour performance resulting in an installation developed at Art Radionica Lazareti, a former quarantine building just outside the city walls of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The piece explores questions of boundary and isolation by using performance and live video feed to visually and conceptually link two remote points: one inside the gates of the building, the other a light beacon on the opposite side of the harbour. Perforating the external wall of the site, a ladder is placed out to the sea below. Over the course of 12 hours, sea water is carried from shoreline to interior using individual plastic cups in a spatial enactment of metaphor (meaning, literally, ‘to transfer’). Meanwhile, the live video feed of a close-crop of a light beacon is projected inside the interior of the space, over which are projected lines of text. Each time a cup of sea is deposited, a new piece of text is deposited digitally into the space of performance. Ultimately, the cups trace a new perimeter inside the space while the projection displays a history of the performance through its palimpsest of word and image. The resulting installation work was exhibited for one week at Art Radionica Lazareti.
With special thanks to Nicole Hewitt.