So Far, So Close (2022)
Video installation

When I look into the eyes of someone sitting in front of me — I do not see myself. I see them — in any case, the other — looking at me. From face-to-face communication, I do not recognize myself in others, I recognize them on me.

In video communications, in contrast, through the front-facing camera, the image of oneself can be placed on the screen with the other’s. With the consciousness of being on camera, both as the object of observation simultaneously.

Videoconferencing creates the illusion of eye contact, but it is fundamentally different from real meetings. The convenience of videotelephony allows people to communicate remotely at any time. However, the remaining distance is still palpable – perhaps found in a slight displacement. During a video call, as Andreas Bernard puts it: “One cannot exchange glances. If you look into the eyes on the screen, the other party will think you are looking down a little because the camera is installed at the upper edge of the computer. The charming peculiarity of an unmediated encounter — where looking at someone always means being seen, as well — has yielded to asymmetrical gazes. Thanks to Skype, we can be close to each other twenty-four hours a day, but we are constantly staring past one another.”

At the same time, the screen of the electronic device is like a wall or a mirror, showing the image of the other while cancelling their embodiment, so that the real other gradually disappears into invisibility. People can meet electronically in a private environment rather than a public space, with the image of the other only between the switches of a few inches of electronic screens — the subject (or the self) is able to prioritize his or her own physical sensation, unconsciously or without burden. Virtual meeting crosses the barriers of geography to connect people, but at the same time, it eliminates the distance that constitutes the other in its otherness. The countenance of the other on a thin plane — so far and yet so close, so close and yet so far.