Krzysztof Wodiczko and Sung Ho Kim
their work.
I was initially drawn to this link because of my familiarity with Krzysztof Wodiczko's projection work, specifically his Hiroshima Project in which he projected video clips of survivors (focused on their hands) telling their stories over a crater, now filled with water, from the bomb's impact.
The specific work from this link is a Porte-Parole Mouthpiece. It is a mouthpiece that users wear around the fronts of their faces that has a screen showing a pre-recorded mouth speaking a pre-recorded message, while also preventing the user to speak. The artists describe this work as "an instrument for stangers, its function is to empower those who are deprived of power." This, like his Hiroshima Project, is giving a voice to those otherwise unheard in the world. I think that his goal is to project a story that cannot be censored in a society that despite free speech, is incredibly controlled, in order to expose the dark realities of the world otherwise ignored. In Hiroshima Project, his method of projecting the video image against a building supports this because there was really nothing anyone could do to cover the projection. The mouthpiece is similar in that the message is pre-recorded and cannot be stopped, not even by the user wearing the piece, as they cannot speak. As a result, his work is giving a voice to immigrants usually too fearful too let their voice be heard.
I am a huge fan of Wodiczko's work, specifically his choice of medium and setting. By using digital medium in public places the impact of his message is increased ten-fold, by letting/forcing it to be accessible to a much larger audience. Conceptually, I also praise his work for being so moving without being overtly vulgar or dominating. His pieces are much more subtle compared to other "shock and awe" artists, but his message is equally if not more effectively conveyed because it demands the audiences attention by its sheer uniqueness.
