Alexander Brandt

TV Intimacy (2009, "Non-interactive" Installation)

Four comfortable sofa-chairs are placed in a dimly lit space. They are organized into two pairs, each composed of an empty sofa-chair facing a chair with a large TV set on it. One shows the still image of a handsome young man, the other that of a pretty woman. Whenever someone sits down, the person on the TV screen will start talking, making a passionate love-declaration to the viewer. In this declaration, the person in the video is including little details that undeniable relate directly to the viewer. Like for example if the viewer happens to wear a green shirt, the person in the video will say
Oh, I like your green shirt", or whenever the viewer smiles, the TV person will return the smile and say "You see, you are laughing, I knew you like me too." By now the viewer is wondering how this is possible... and it is only later, after walking up the stairs and looking through a little window into a closed-off room, that the viewer realizes that the person who just made this intimate love-declaration is actually a real living person, sitting in an identical chair, acting in front of a camera and reacting directly to the viewer's specific behavior and appearance...