Christian Niccoli

ESCALATING PERCEPTION / THE PATH 2005
5 channel video installation, beamer, dvd-player, 5.1 surround speakers, amplifier

Escalating perception/video, 3:55 Dv-pal dubbed to DVD, 5.1 Dolby surround

This video film was realized in cooperation with VIDEOGRAPHE (Centre de Recherche Médiale, Montréal, Canada), postproduced by

the WERKLEITZ GESELLSCHAFT e. V. (Zentrum für künstlerische Bildbearbeitung Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle/Saale, Deutschland) and

financed by the artist advancement of the South Tyrol provincial government.

The video installation Escalating perception / the path is the second of three-part-series Escalating perception. The project

broaches the issue of public transport in a metropolic context, as a place of non-verbal communication, an anonymous place of

interchanging looks. The moment of taking a look at each other, portrayed in all three video installations, happening between

two individuals meeting at two opposing escalators (one moves up, the other down). The three video installations,in each case,

reference to the aspect of proportion between two persons on an escalator, for example, searching a partner.

The three video installtions respectively reference to three metropolis: Berlin, Montréal and Istanbul. The three cities where

chosen because of their respective features to match the main focus of the specific works. Moreover, the visual perception in

public transport between the cities can be rated, to elaborate the cultural imprint in perception.

The work is segmented in two language channels: an image channel, composed of a video projection and a sound channel, which in

turn is separated in three tracks. When the viewer enters a room, he comes across a wall-filling projection. The remaining three

walls are each equipped with a speaker. From every speaker sound cutouts of interviews repectively from one person. Thereby the

viewer receives the impression to be situated in the middle of a conversation while standing in the middle of the room and

watching the video. In contrast, the projection shows a cinematic demonstration of a meeting between a young man and an older

woman on a trail in desolate scenery.

The installation explores the meeting of two people on an escalator in the public transport of the canadian city Montréal. It is

all about the precise aspect in the meeting of two persons in an anonymous context: the threat. In the western, modern cities,

direct access to violence is unlikely in general. Experiencing violence, being in need to defend yourself, are experiences that

are foreign to the most of us. Even if we don’t need to physically deal with others in western large cities, instincts like

violence and harassment are still existing. The variety of options, our society offers us to find personal happiness, draws a

constant comparison – especially in large cities- to other individuals (even ones we don’t know) and their physical

‘fortune-marks’, like good appearance, social position or satisfaction in partnership or family. As Niccoli says, these form of

discussion has replaced the pysical threat.

To clarify the threat, Christian Niccoli portrayed the meeting on the escalator like an archaic duel. In the video, both

protagonists recognize the presence of each other afar and try to assess if the opponent personates a life-threat for

themselves. The closer they get, the more cleary they can see each other, the more focussed their views are to the attributes of

their looks to find out the social environment the other comes from.