Artist Documentation: The Influencing Machine of Miss. Natalijaa

Abstract

THE INFLUENCING MACHINE is an interactive installation based on a case history by the psychoanalyst and early follower of Freud, Victor Tausk. In 1919, Natalija A., a former student of philosophy came to Tausk complaining that a bizarre electrical apparatus, which she believed was operated secretly by physicians in Berlin, was manipulating her thoughts. The project attempts to materialize Natalijars hallucinations for the viewer while at the same time alluding to the development of real influencing machines, in the form of radio and television in pre WWII Germany. The installation consists of a large stereoscopic diagram inspired by the mechanics of early television. (The enclosed red/green diagram is a small demo version.) The participant, wearing 3D glasses, looks down at it. Now they see an actual threedimensional structure. They touch a designated space in this virtual machine with a pointer, all at once movies simulating Natalija's hallucinations appear as projected video clips on a small screen suspended within the space of the diagram. The user takes the pointer away and the projection vanishes. From the moment they don the glasses, the participant enters into a virtual world invisible to those around them, very much as one would when actually hallucinating, (See enclosed tape for a sample of the video).