2199 is a performative installation that uses virtual reality to question notions of authority, perception and control. Three users sit in revolving chairs and put on virtual reality headsets which will take them to a world that is minimalist but true to the physical space around them. A voice welcomes them and invites them to perform a series of synchronized movements. If they look at certain points of the virtual space this will cause the chairs to rotate, making them part of a choreography and giving them shared responsibility for its success. Throughout the process, each person glimpses the movements of their two companions, bringing a feeling of belonging and obedience in creating a coherent choreography. At the end, users are invited to observe the interpretation of the next participants, and watch the confrontation between something that happens simultaneously in the physical and in the virtual world.

2199 is an experience that calls for critical reflection about the vulnerability of people to new technologies, analysing above all how virtual reality, a victim of its own success, is frequently used in an uncritical and automatic way.

Fragmentin is an artist collective based in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 2014 and composed by three ECAL (Lausanne University of Art and Design) alumni: Laura Perrenoud (born in 1991 in Lausanne), David Colombini (born in 1989 in Lausanne) and Marc Dubois (born in 1985 in Basel). At the crossroads of art and engineering, Fragmentin’s work questions the impact of the digital on everyday life by investigating these technologies’ disposition towards control and opacity. Their works are often conceived as spaces for discussion on crucial contemporary topics and issues. Through installation, video, interaction and performance, the studio’s artworks demystify complex systems and reveal the tension arising from emergent technologies .Recently, they have created –in collaboration with artist Lauren Huret– burningcollection.tv, a generative artwork for the virtual space of Jeu de Paume in Paris. Fragmentin’s pieces have been exhibited internationally and have been acquired by collection of institutions such as HeK in Basel or the Art Foundation Pax. Since 2017, the three artists have been nominated to several art prizes and have been awarded the App Art award (2017), The Pax Art Award (2018) and the Prix du Rayonnement de la Fondation Vaudoise pour la Culture (2019).

Fragmentin (Switzerland, 2014)
2199

2020 Edition
Indoor installation
Venue: Old Information Point
Collaborator: Pro Helvetia