distort yourself with we are narcisses by bertrand lanthiez + chloé curé

distort yourself with we are narcisses by bertrand lanthiez + chloé curé
all images courtesy of bertrand lanthiez and chloé curé

‘we are narcisses’ is an interactive project by bertrand lanthiez and chloé curé that transposes legends and myths with the help of a few simple materials: a mirror, some water, and a speaker. the more the viewers look at themselves, the more their faces are deformed, leading them to question their relation to their own image. this project is a response to a school subject around the theme of beauty. the designers immediately thought about the reflective glass that hangs in the spaces of our homes, the myth of our own representation.

‘looking-glass upon the wall, who’s fairest of us all?’ like the evil queen of the brothers grimm tale, we expect the surface to depict the picture we want to have of ourselves. but more than in the visual, it’s in our eyes that we may find an answer. lanthiez and curé said, ‘what particularly interested us in the tale of little snow white is this interaction between the magic mirror and the queen. what if we create, us too, a mirror that lives and reacts? a mirror in which, the more we look, the less we can recognize ourself? a mirror that not only is not complacent, but invites us to look elsewhere, or ourselves.’

 
gif of the distortion

in addition, the duo found the elements necessary for the development of their project in the myth of narcissus. according to the roman poet ovid, the main character’s hamartia (a hero’s tragic flaw) is that he is bound to fall in love with himself. it is by looking at an ocean that he stayed, struck by his own image, eventually dying of languor, starvation, and drowning.

a portrait of a woman

based on this tale, water is used in its natural form rather than simulated by numerical and graphical means. deformations of the liquid are physically created by a subwoofer enclosure that is alive with low-frequency sounds. distortions intensify progressively with the time spent above the construct and change appearance depending on the intensity of the noise being played regarding the position and the weight balance of the viewer.

poster of the installation

each picture is a distorted representation

diagram of the system

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.