Face the Vitrine
Installation
2013—04, 05
Cairo, EG
Cairo, EG
Video Projection on Storefront
Interactive public installation created in collaboration with Yasmin Elayat for D-CAF.
The installation lasted for 30 days, during which a different face appeared daily on the glass of an abandoned storefront in downtown Cairo.
The project was made possible thanks to Al Ismailia Company and a generous grant from AFAC.
“Using motion-tracking technology typically used in digital game controllers, and an infra-red camera to sense people’s movement at night, the projected faces’ eyes are set up to follow people as they walk down the street. The roles of subject and object are reversed: the men and women on the sidewalk become objects of the window’s attention, while the face in the window becomes not an object but a subject looking out.“
—Sara Elkamel, AHRAM ONLINE
“As you walk past a particular shop in downtown Cairo, you notice something strange. A large face nearly fills the entire window, and its eyes follow you as you move. The installation is the work of Ganzeer, an artist who has created some of the most memorable street art in the past two years, and the tech-savvy Yasmine El Ayat, who describes herself as an ‘interaction designer.’ It uses a projector and the motion sensor from an Xbox to make the eyes move. Every day, it features a different face and gets different reactions.“
—Ursula Lindsey, PRI’S THE WORLD
“Most of the people who see ‘Face the Vitrine’ will not have intended to sample a slice of post-modernist contemporary art as they make their way about Downtown. However, the piece is unavoidable; taking up the entire window of an empty shop, it literally glares at passersby.“
—Emily Wright, CAIRO 360
Exhibitions:
D-Caf — Cairo, 2013
Interactive public installation created in collaboration with Yasmin Elayat for D-CAF.
The installation lasted for 30 days, during which a different face appeared daily on the glass of an abandoned storefront in downtown Cairo.
The project was made possible thanks to Al Ismailia Company and a generous grant from AFAC.
“Using motion-tracking technology typically used in digital game controllers, and an infra-red camera to sense people’s movement at night, the projected faces’ eyes are set up to follow people as they walk down the street. The roles of subject and object are reversed: the men and women on the sidewalk become objects of the window’s attention, while the face in the window becomes not an object but a subject looking out.“
—Sara Elkamel, AHRAM ONLINE
“As you walk past a particular shop in downtown Cairo, you notice something strange. A large face nearly fills the entire window, and its eyes follow you as you move. The installation is the work of Ganzeer, an artist who has created some of the most memorable street art in the past two years, and the tech-savvy Yasmine El Ayat, who describes herself as an ‘interaction designer.’ It uses a projector and the motion sensor from an Xbox to make the eyes move. Every day, it features a different face and gets different reactions.“
—Ursula Lindsey, PRI’S THE WORLD
“Most of the people who see ‘Face the Vitrine’ will not have intended to sample a slice of post-modernist contemporary art as they make their way about Downtown. However, the piece is unavoidable; taking up the entire window of an empty shop, it literally glares at passersby.“
—Emily Wright, CAIRO 360
Exhibitions:
D-Caf — Cairo, 2013