In My Presence

In My Presence is an interactive installation built around an aquarium-like structure containing sensors and a speaker. Suspended inside the aquarium are old non-smart mobile phones, alongside fragments of texts by Walter Benjamin and the Frankfurt School. The installation also includes the legs of a mannequin and a carved wooden head placed inside a popcorn machine, forming a fragmented assemblage of obsolete communication devices, bodily remnants, theory, and display.

The work is activated through the presence of the viewer. A sensor on one side triggers a sound piece based on a text associated with the Frankfurt School, while a sensor on the other side activates a text by Walter Benjamin. When both sensors are activated simultaneously, a composition by Steve Reich is played. In this way, the installation creates a shifting sound environment in which the viewer’s movement produces different configurations of listening, thought, and attention.

By bringing these elements together, In My Presence explores the relations between presence, spectatorship, and technological mediation. The aquarium functions both as a container and as a stage, enclosing objects that evoke outdated systems of communication, fragments of the body, and critical reflections on mass culture and perception. The work invites the viewer into a responsive environment where meaning emerges through proximity, simultaneity, and interaction.