Fans (gisants)

Olivain Porry, 2020

“Fans (gisants)” is an installation of variable proportions, made of fans lying on the ground. Each of them is connected to a black box containing an electronic communication system and a presence sensor. In conventional use, floor standing fans have rotating “heads” that rotate from right to left. Slightly modified, “Fans (lying)” fans rotate their bodies rather than their heads. The spatial arrangement of the fans corresponds to the organization of a “Watts-Strogatz” model network (small-world network). This same configuration allows the fans to exchange information with each other and to be activated when a sensor other than their own is triggered. The passage of a spectator in front of a sensor will result in the transfer of information from the activated sensor to the fan to which it is connected. The latter is then activated and starts, during one minute, a slow torsion of his body.The foot of the activated ventilator gently twists in a movement that evokes pain and groaning. Interconnected according to strict rules, the group of ten ventilators evokes an industrial cemetery whose elements seem to awaken when a visitor walks by.