This is an idea for project, which would be potentially developed further during my second year at Transmedia.

A large space is composed of two rooms. As the viewer enters the dark space of the first room, he sees a projection of a person on a swing, facing him with his back. A single ray of light lits his body from above. The movements of the swing are extremely slow. As it moves forward, the dark parts of the images are gradually becoming brighter until full illumination at the farthest point up the swing can reach. Simultaneously one hears the rising sound of a wind, growing and filling up the space. As the swing meditatively slows down while reaching its zenith, then starts rolling down backwards, the sound of the wind turns to sea waves, sounding far away, then gradually getting closer, until they crash into full darkness, while the swing drifts away from light into pitch black. The video is set on a loop, creating a notion of a continuous journey. The perpetual ebbs and flows of movement and sound, suspends what might be just a blink of an eye.

Entering the second room, the viewer comes across an actual swing, placed in front of a glass pane. Above it a spotlight sheds a vertical light down, hence lighting both sides of the swing for only a very brief timespan. On the other side of the glass pane is a dark room with the exact same setup, so that the participator is lured into thinking the glass pane is a mirror. As he starts to sway, he sees his reflection on the mirror; when he moves away from the lighted area, only the empty swing remains visible. His continuous back and forth movement will confront him alternatively to his own reflection and his disappearance. In this space, perception of the present moment/time is condensed with the help of illusion. Perception may change from one second to the next, as if looking at mirage or realizing that you just wake up from a dream.

The use of the swing as an element in the video and also as a physical object, is symbolic, but also relates to our memories as children. The swinging movement doesn’t change only our physical position, it is as well a magical vehicle which could transport us into our dreams, or different state of mind. In India the movement of the swing represents the rising and setting of the sun, the rhythm of the seasons, the eternal cycle of death and birth and the harmonic union of Heaven and Earth .