The Night before, 2004
installation with different objects
silicone, billard balls, velvet, motors, motion detector, wood, wire rope
ca. 180 x 50 x 18 cm, ca. 12 x 50 x 18 cm
" … Whereas in The Night Before, in a basement corridor, a set of three billiard /pool balls were placed in a wooden and baize tray and rotated spontaneously on their axes. Triggered again by hidden motion detectors, they were accompanied by billiard cues made of silicone in their rack which also vibrated. The event being initiated as you walked down the stairs to the basement. A whole series of ideas are spun off from this principle or working practice. Firstly, there is a double displacement both of the objects and their function. Secondly, the effect is also doubly and spatially displaced, since it was also observable by a camera placed on the first floor of the exhibition, and which has displaced the viewer at the same time. In another aspect it introduces sound since the phenomena was made specifically audible. The role of self-generated participant sound is very important to Smiatek. …" (Quote Mark Gisbourne)