| Carmin Karasic |
1999
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carmin@pixelyze.com
website |
The
Lost Ones |
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"For the passion to search is such
that no place may be left unsearched."
The Lost Ones installation explores compulsive
searching and routine as human nature. Children develop routines and ask,
"Why?" We tend to seek and/or find meaning in our lives and the world around
us. We follow passion, step-by-step moving closer to our goal; seeking
self-improvement, spiritual clues, self-expression, self-discovery...
Proposal Summary |
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This immersive installation
and VRML work is based on Samuel Beckett's hellish short story by the same
name. The Lost Ones are ruled by simple rhythmic patterns to the point
of absurdity. Beckett repeats the story 3 times, each time adding a little
more detail. His sparse settings are echoed through 3 concentric interpretations
expanding outward from a virtual reality world on a monitor at the center
of the installation; surrounded by a Lost Ones model in realspace, and
enclosed in a walk-in cylinder walled with imagery from the central cyberspace
scene and shadows of the realspace model. One becomes yet another Lost
One within the cylinder. |
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Quoting the book cover:
"A brief, compressed work written in
the sparest of prose filled with a wealth of subtle allusion. Beckett distills
the human experience into the barest essentials; this time he tells of
a universe of lost bodies roaming the niches and crevices inside a flattened
cylinder 50 meters round and 18 meters high."
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200 blue figures create a
teeming precinct, positioned to represent the Lost Ones always searching,
continuously revolving around the center of the cylinder. Soft music is
mixed with voices from all over the world, whispering phrases inspired
by Beckett’s text, including, "No place may be left unsearched". The model
includes tattered "ladders of varying lengths, with half the rungs missing,
without regard to harmony". In the story, the ladders lead to chambers
of various sizes, arranged randomly in the top half of the cylinder wall.
The model echoes the VRML world on the monitor screen in the center, where
'searching' blue figures and ladders are displayed continuously. |
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Inspiration and Concept
Development: Ricardo Dominguez and Diane Ludin
Installation Credit:
Lighting circuitry: Dave Karasic
Audio mixing: Mario Taddeo
Blue figures: Dave Karasic, Adrianne Woods,
Geoffrey Karasic, Leedah Karasic
Voices: Rolf van Gelder, Takuji Kogo, Andrzej
Cieplak, Praxedis Mayr von Baldegg, Kari Anne Kjolaas, Phi Nguyen, Daniel
Ganin, Neal Karasic, Aisha Sagna, Firdous Moin, Hind A. Eid, Alberto Roblest,
Carmin Karasic |
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Additional assistance:
Remo Campopiano, Christine MacDonald, Robert Kieronski, Attleboro Museum
staff
Additional Support:
Texas Instruments and Sony Corporation |
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Copyright ©1999 Carmin Karasic
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