In the 21st century our dependence on and appreciation of the visual media of the past remains strong and the concept of the frame persists in incarnations both old and new. Today, the content of the frame has the ability not only to animate but through technological contrivance to also respond to our movements and gaze.

This project is exhibited as a video depiction of several everyday scenes in the tradition of genre painting. Genre painting or photography depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. These depictions can be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist. Because of their familiar and frequently sentimental subject matter, genre paintings have often proven popular with the bourgeoisie, or middle class.

The installation plays back panoramic video, of a width much larger than the screen frame itself. Movement generate from the gaze of watching people cause the focus of the frame to shift either to the left or to the right, exposing new material. The idea is to have a seemingly static looking picture from a distance, with the opportunity to peer into the sidelines of the image revealing dynamic ‘hidden’ scenes when closer to the screen. The ’side-lines’ also play sound, whereas the central image will be mostly silent. Video material for the screen was shot using actors, using multiple cameras to achieve a panoramic effect and then processed appropriately by custom software. Each video is looped seamlessly, periodically swapping out when off-screen to be replaced by new content.

A demonstration of the latest version of the software can viewed here.