Gefängnis Artwork

In my work as an artist I seek a personal truth - in contrary to science, which is based on statistics, probability and standardised cases, allowing objectivity. My topics are „Crisis“, which everyone knows from their everyday life. (Those are best described by Erik H. Erikson. ) They can not be solved at all but one has to find a possition between two extremes. I am talking about poles such as „Trust - mistrust „, „Constructiveness - Sense of inferiority“ and „Momentariness - Life „, which I reflect in my art. One of those crisis is the trust or mistrust that the individual has towards it´s environment. This is the basis for my multimedia installation “Prisoner´s dilemma” Prisoner´s dilemma The prisoner‘s dilemma is a example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so. The prisoner‘s dilemma is of interest to the social sciences such as economics, politics and sociology. Two men are arrested for committing a crime, but there is not enough evidence for a conviction. The two men are separated, and offer both the same deal: if one testifies against his partner, and the other remains silent, the betrayer is free to go and the one that remains silent gets eleven-year sentence. If both remain silent, both are sentenced to only one year in jail for the possession of weapons. If each ‚rats out‘ the other, each receives a five year sentence. Each prisoner must choose either to betray or remain silent. The interesting fact about this problem is that the optimal decision for each is to betray the other, even though they would be better off if they both cooperated. One could assume this situation is extraordinary. But the opposite is the case. Wherever there is an moral decision to be made a prisoner‘s dilemma occurs. But if everyone optimizes his interests in a selfish way, it is a loss for everyone. My approach to the project: I took this dilemma as a initial for the installation and turn it into an experience for the spectator. At the same time he should feel the consequences of his actions. I pretended to place two prisons on the exhibition area and introduced visitor A to the prisoner´s dilemma. The prisoner in cage A should think there was a second cage on the sight. By the means of switches he could decide the fate of prisoner B in another cage and determine the duration of the imprisonment (e.g. one minute, five minutes or ten minutes). Prisoner B has the same choices to make. Thus the prisoners make theirs moral judgment under real-life-conditions. But in reality only one cell exists. Visitor A has to suffer the consequences of his decisions himself. He comes to understand this situation during his sentence. The installation is supplemented with the mythological theme of Narcissus and Echo as Ovid describes it. In his text as well as in my installation a man is confronted with himself in two ways – not knowing who is staring back and then knowing it. He imprisons himself because he is fixated only on himself. Vanity and egoism play a role... In Ovid´s “Metamorphosis” the tale of “Echo” precedes the story of “Narcissus”. In this installation, too, echo plays a significant role. A microphone is installed to pretend one could communicate with prisoner B. In fact prisoner A´s distorted voice is being reflected back into the cell. The theme of self-reflection is being completed by quoting “Narcissus and Echo”. Here the visitor is forced to rethink his own moral decisions and has to change his own point of view. He sees himself as victim and perpetrator. Thus the blind spot of individual human perspective is avoided. Eyes are opened for processes that are constantly active within our society but cannot be perceived easily otherwise. Technical realisation The prison is a cell out of wood. It can be entered though a lockable door. Entering the room a friendly vice instructs you and explains the dilemma. On the table in the inside two switches can be found. In order to determine the fate of prisoner B you can press them (but ass mentioned before: the second cell does not exist) Via microphone the visitor thinks he can communicate with the one in the other cell. Instead his distorted voice is being reflected back into the cell. This ensemble is completed by the painting “Narcissus”

Mixed Media:Digital on Sound

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:0.4 W x 0.4 H x 0.1 D in

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