Sommerer & Mignonneau
Christa Sommerer (*1964, Austria) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Laurent Mignonneau (*1967, France) at the Acedemy of Fine Arts Angouleme, Fance. Between 1992- 1993 they studied together under Peter Weibel at Städelschule Institut of Media in Frankfurt am Main. Today both are professors at the University of Art and Design, Linz. There works have been shown in solo shows in different institutions like MOT Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; ISEA International Symposium of Electronic Arts, Vancouver; Hermès Shanghai, Hermès Madison, New York; Slick Art Fair, Parus; or Museum of Screen Culture- Moscow among others. At ARCO Madrid, 2016, they have been awarded with the Premio ARCO madrid/ BEEP prize.
Their newest interactive installation, Portrait on the Fly, consists of a monitor that shows a swarm of a few thousand flies. When a person positions himself in front of it, the insects try to detect his facial features. They then begin to arrange themselves so as to reproduce them, thereby creating a recognizable likeness of the individual. Posing in front of the monitor attracts the flies. Within seconds they invade the face, but even the slightest movement of the head or of parts of the face drives them off. The portraits are thus in constant flux, they construct and deconstruct. Portrait on the Fly is a commentary on our love for making pictures of ourselves (Selfie-Culture). It has to do with change, transience and impermanence.
Congratulations to Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau!
Their newest interactive installation, Portrait on the Fly, consists of a monitor that shows a swarm of a few thousand flies. When a person positions himself in front of it, the insects try to detect his facial features. They then begin to arrange themselves so as to reproduce them, thereby creating a recognizable likeness of the individual. Posing in front of the monitor attracts the flies. Within seconds they invade the face, but even the slightest movement of the head or of parts of the face drives them off. The portraits are thus in constant flux, they construct and deconstruct. Portrait on the Fly is a commentary on our love for making pictures of ourselves (Selfie-Culture). It has to do with change, transience and impermanence.