A white dot matrix is projected on people. Light matrix moves between the bodies when people touch each other. The work is projected in a dark space where one wall is a semi-transparent mirror. The mirror reflects only the illuminated human-shaped matrix, hiding the individual features of people animating the dots.
The project combines 3D sensing with video mapping to transform light into a digital body painting. The ir-matrix generated by 3D sensor becomes an organizational field to reveal various dynamic topographies appearing within a group of people.
The installation was inspired by the body painting tradition practised by Selknam tribe. In 1923, German priest and missionary Martin Gusinde was following the Hain ritual in Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia. His images document the last time Selknam celebrated Hain. Soon after the entire tribe were either massacred or forced to work for European sheep farmers occupying their ancestral hunting grounds.
Body painting for Selknam was a form of communication. With simple geometrical forms they created rich corporeal vocabulary. The installation is accompanied by two photographs by Gusinde which depict Selknam destiny. The captions are written in circles.
