Spotlight is a set of 16 networked portraits. Each portrait has a set of 9 “temporal gestures” – photographic-quality sequences of human gestures such as looking up.

Every few seconds, a randomly selected portrait is looking towards a neighboring portrait. In turn, the neighboring portrait will look back, as in a kind of “random discussions.” The viewer can interrupt the group dynamics at any time, by selecting one of the 16 portraits. The remaining 15 portraits automatically react and direct their attention to the selected portrait, which reacts with a gesture that shows that the protrait “feels” that s/he is the center of attention.

The placement of two or more portraits near each other is a known technique to create a new meaning in the viewer’s mind. In Spotlight not only the visual layout, but also the interaction with others creates a new meaning for the viewer, engaging him/her at two levels. At the group level, the viewer influences the portraits “social dynamics.” At the individual level, a portrait’s “temporal gestures” expose much about the subject’s personality.

A work by Orit Zuckerman, in collaboration with Sajid Sadi.
Movie.