Play is in the eye of the beholder

3×4 is a temporal and spatial timecode; reduced to its ephemeral elements it consists of 18 hours of memories and reflections in the minds and collective recollections of those who participated in it, played out over three days on 12, 13 and 14 December 2014 from 10:00–16:00 GMT / 15:30–21:30 IST daily. Ultimately what remains as its legacy is a story told in and between two cities consisting of human encounters and events that unfolded in a state of flux between London and Delhi. Whilst every effort was made to document this transitory happening through photographs and video footage the single most important recording was from the line out video feed; the final composited or chroma-keyed image of the audience participants displayed within the installation itself. When watching this recording we are taking up the position of the persons within it; we are looking directly at the very same image that caused the effect we are now contemplating for ourselves.

From beginning to end, the entire recording represents a 1080-minute data stream upon which we can now study and apply our own minute-by-minute layer of metadata based on observations, reflections and analysis, as we look the participant in the eye through this ‘two-way mirror’ recording. Whilst this work is ongoing, 45 minutes from each day has already been compiled and made available for public viewing: 3×4 — Line out video. This video contains memorable moments upon which we can now reflect, such as when a young boy in Delhi wearing a white shirt and hat enters the space (53:30) and initially waves to participants in London, staying for over an hour perfecting his interactions and gestures as he invents and plays new games. Or when three ladies in Delhi enter (1:38:00) with two babies greeted by participants in London eager to hold and play with them, who appear to be memorized by this lacanian moment of realization as the babies stare into the screen [mirror].

Paul Sermon