Dis-Armor Project

source: webmitedu

Dis-Armor Project
Krzysztof Wodiczko, Adam Whiton, Sung Ho Kim, Jurek Stypulkowski, Brooklyn Model Works

Dis-Armor is the newest in a series of psychocultural prosthetic equipment designed to meet the communicative need of the alienated, traumatized, and silenced residents of today’s cities. It connects contemporary research in two fields: wearable communi- cation technology and prosthetics. In doing so, it counters the dichotomy of the present explosion in communication technology and rampant cultural miscommunication.

Dis-Armor offers an opportunity for indirect, mediated communication by allowing its users to speak through their backs. LCD screens, worn on the back, display live images of the wearer’s eyes transmitted from cameras installed in the helmet covering the face. A speaker positioned below the LCD screens amplifies the user’s voice. Attached to the helmet is a rearview mirror, alternatively, a rearview video camera, monitor, microphone, and headphone. These permit the user to see the face and hear the words of the spectator/interlocutor standing behind. Wireless video equipment installed in the helmet further allows two users to work in tandem, showing each other the other’s eyes and broadcasting to each the other’s voice.

Specifically, Dis-Armor is an instrument designed to focus on the psychological difficulties of Japanese high school students and “school refusers,” who live in silence and lack facial expression. It uses the ancient traditions of arms making to conceive of a playful alternative to intimidating face-to-face communication. It is designed for particular individuals among urban youth who have survived overwhelming life events (violence, neglect, and abuse) and who now wish to overcome their false sense of shame, to break their silence, and to communicate their experience in public space.

The Dis-Armor instruments are part of the permanent collection of the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art in Hiroshima, Japan.
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source: art-ba-ba

Krzysztof Wodiczko是一位目前定居于波斯顿的波兰艺术家，现任教于麻省理工学院。Krzysztof的父亲是波兰的指挥家 Bohdan Wodiczko，1941年Krzysztof出生于波兰的华沙，1968年他毕业于华沙美术学院并于华沙专科院校任教至1977年。过后他移民到加拿大并在哪儿任教。

Wodiczko的代表作是他近40个左右的巨型户外投影作品，这些作品在全世界的多个国家展出过。他的作品通常与社会意识并经常很自然的与政治扯上关系。比如一些投影在建筑上的作品就与一些经历过犯罪事件的当事人所深受过的痛苦挣扎有关，他将这些当事人在述说自己经历时的脸部表情和手部动作投影在建筑上，公开的让公众看到这些隐私。