Infrared were invited at the XV BIENNALE DE LA MEDITERRANEE - THESSALONIKI to participate with an installation that would deal with the theme of the biennale: 'SYMBIOSIS?'. The project is installed on the third floor of an abandoned hotel that was converted into a temporary gallery for the purposes of the biennale, each room of the derelict hotel being occupied by the creation of an artist, designer or architect.
Infrared used three rooms in order to establish a spatial symbiosis between different spaces of the densely segregated floor plan of the hotel. The installation consists of a metal seesaw 7.5 meters long that penetrates the walls between rooms 313 and 315. The holes on the walls are wide enough in order to allow for the smooth function of the long seesaw, but no more than that. Visual connection between the two players is almost impossible. Each player cannot be exactly sure who is at the other end of the seesaw apart from the fact that without her or him the game is not possible. What is left is the sheer feeling of balance, interaction and cooperation. One has to go down in order to go up following the simple rules of a symbiotic relationship.
The rooms at the two ends of the seesaw are painted white while the seats of the seesaw made of MDF board are painted in bright color in order to attract people to sit on and play. The middle room has a more mysterious atmosphere. The old wall paper was tore away creating a rough and mottled surface while lighting is kept dim. The shaft of the seesaw stands in the middle of this room like a strange machine. The project can never be viewed in its entirety. One can often see someone hovering in a white room with the help of an undefined force coming from somewhere else while others watch just the movement of the seesaw without the players who make it happen. What is always visible is the effects of this spatial symbiosis rather than the image of a seesaw itself.
Photography by Infrared and Eleni Laloumi
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