Roi Fernández | Spain

He lives and works in Vigo in the Spanish region of Galicia. He develops projects in action art, hybrid theatrical forms, net-art and video creation. Roi founded in 2001 the multimedia and VJ group “Input Select” with whom he participated in several electronic art events. Since 2003 he works with the collective Sr.Pause, dedicated to multimedia creation, audiovisual and scenic design. Some of his projects are deeply rooted in a reflection about issues that have a great deal of importance in the Galician region, such as migratory movements, abandoned spaces, the connections and dynamics between ancestral rural areas and modern urban spaces. Roi is also a member of the artistic collective alg-a and coordinator of the project "Physical alg-a: Laboratório alg-a".

http://srpause.sinsitio.org/

Project: A_proxy_mations
Category: Interactive Installation
Assistance: Xesús Valle
Period: September 2006
Event: "Nodar Pushing the Medium #2" Symposium

„A_proxy_mations" consists of the communication of a village with a city using as interface a „lavadouro” (communal laundering facility). The „lavadouros” were communication and work centers between the villages’ inhabitants, especially between the most peripheral group: the women. From "A_proxy_mations" we wanted to make a continuity based on the idea of streaming, both physic (water current) and virtual.

The communication subject was, in this case, the migratory movements from the periphery to the urban center. We proposed the village of Nodar (Portugal) and the city of Vigo (Galicia, Spain) to make the interchange.

There are two phases coexisting in the project:

1st. Documentation: Conversation and documentation on the subject with both the peripheral place inhabitants and the city ones. Recording of the convesations to be used later in the installation.

2nd. Installation: consists of two terminals: periphery and center.

Periphery.
In the village, the installation was located in a communal laundering facility. When touching the water with the hand, the recordings made with the villagers sound, both in the village and in the city (through an internet signal). The captation of the movement is made through the analysis of image with video tracking cameras. The cameras determine the moment where image blockage exists and send the signal to the computer.

Center.
In the city, the installation is located in an improvised public fountain, where the sounds arriving from the village were listened. At the same time, from the city it was possible to interact with the village through the fountain (touching the water), that sent a light and sound signal to the village. The interface functions with the water current being interrupted with the hand. The sensor located in the fountain base detects the pressure variations of the water and sends a signal.

Alg-a diary of the "Nodar Pushing the Medium#2 symposium, by Roi Fernández and Xesús Vale:

http://www.alg-a.org/ (in spanish)

Project's video:

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