During the 8th Festival, audiences became acquainted with the work Kogut had done on the streets for the past few years. As the critic and curator Pierre Bongiovanni once said, in Kogut’s editing of statements recorded by passersby and anonymous people, "she seems to want to show that a face is necessarily built from myriad other faces; that ONE is always constituted by ALL, as if the only way one can discuss what is Human nowadays is through the multiplicity of gazes, the combination of signs, of words..."
artists
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Essay Sandra Kogut, 1990
The Videobooths
Videobooths are individual black 2m x 2m x 2m boxes, where the visitor enters and estabilishes an intimate and personal contact with TV through TV – be it as a watcher, be it as a video co producer. They are a parallel and alternative way of using the electronic paraphernalia, where two strangers meet through TV and where the typical watcher may use the technology the way he considers most convenient.
Recording videobooths are equipped with a camera and a microfone. They invite visitors to actively control the medium. They are installed on the streets, in diferente points of the city. Everyone is invited in and, once alone with the camera, to say and do whatever they want. Sometimes some subjecs are suggested. The only subjective limitation is the maximum time allowed to be in the booth, that is 30 seconds. The technical team remais outside, from where the recording may be controlled, leaving the visitor totally free with the machine. Inside, he is not only the owner of his words, but also the controller of his image, framing himself at wish, free to stand back, come close or even leave the booth.
The lack of a direct controller creates a unique situation: it is very rare for someone to be in front of a camera without having anyone tellling him what to do. The technical team, in this case, is only specialized labor working for a crowd of anonymous directors who are Kings for 30 seconds. Almost a public utility service. The material resulting from these recordings is very different from interviews and statements often seen on TV. The intimacy created by the facto of being alone with the camera within a booth allows any type of disclosures and impetuosities.
Exhibition booths will be mounted to allow the public to watch the best moments of these spontaneous interventions.
8th Fotoptica Internacional Video Festival. 09 a 15 de Novembro de 1990. p. 94.