I see me in you

Background

This project centers around giving voice to a community that currently is not being heard or needs an outlet for expression. Walls are often used as a tool for suppression, even if they were designed as a tool for protection. The wall running through the heart of Palestine and Israel is no exception to this: first constructed by the Israelis beginning in 2000 and continuing to be expanded today, it is a physical barrier 440 miles long which has effectively silenced the Palestinians who live feet from their Israeli neighbors. In fact from the Palestinian perspective, it has silenced the Israelis, which means that BOTH communities have been artificially disconnected from one another. This disconnection is especially ironic considering that the two communities live on the same land and pray to the same god. Their spoken languages are very similar, as is their music and their cuisine.

I chose to design a media installation that could be installed at the site of the "Separation Barrier" (as it is called) that could bridge the communication gap between these two communities and possibly expose their similarities.

The concept

My installation centers around using a "wall" of falling water for two purposes: as a metaphor for a physical barrier and as a screen on which to project still and moving images. The whole consists of two symmetrically placed installations, one on each side of the wall. One each side, there is a raised panel that opens up from the ground to a height the same as the section of the wall it abuts. The open side faces away from the wall, so that observers on either side are facing towards each other. Water is piped from a well underneath the structure up the inclined panel and exits at the raised lip of the panel so that it cascades like a curtain over the opening of the structure. Furthermore, observers can enter the cavity created by the angled panel and view the water wall from the other side (under the sloped panel).

Massive media

What makes this media installation interactive are the projectors that project images (moving and still) from behind the liquid screen onto its surface. They are placed in a position so as to cast shadows of those who venture behind the water wall as well. To the observers outside and inside the structure, these shadows would obscure and interact with the projected images.

Input sources

The source for these projectors would be images from social media platforms that have been tagged specifically for use on this installation (with a hashtag, perhaps?) - this could include videos uploaded to YouTube and images posted to Facebook or Instagram... The key is that on the Israeli side all of the projected media would come from Palestinian sources and vice-versa on the Palestinian side. Therefore each side could see the other and "hear" their voice. Moreover, this would provide a chance for interaction between the shadows of one community and the images of the other...

The animation below is simply a proof of concept demonstrating the effect of projecting a shadow onto a "screen" of falling water:

Conclusion

It is my hope that an installation like this would have a chance to highlight the similarities of two closely-related communities and expose the absurdity of their conflict. Perhaps one day the barrier that separates them will be as ephemeral as the falling water that separates observers in this installation...

"...until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.