Phantoms of Absence was shown at MiC: Musei di Roma Capitale as part of their artist in residency. The installation foot print was the entire sim across 4 levels in the sky. Level one was an entrance corridor terminating in rows of empty chairs receding to a white portal that led to the next level. Level 2 was the Theater of Memory, a domed array of classical portico occupied by posed figures. You were able to access a pose in these porticoes and see an animated image not visible from the floor. These images were taken from old photographs and snapshots, artifacts of memory. A small rowboat circled at the bottom and a central well surrounded by small fires and a cloaked figure was the gate to the next level. Level 3 was the Hall of Lanterns; an array of columns surrounded by slow moving circles of paper lanterns reflected above and below. At one end of the room sat a small desk occupied by prosaic objects, a book, a knife, teacups and a small hologram of a rose. From here you moved to the last level; the Ice. The Ice was a frozen expanse occupied by small boats half buried in the ice, each boat had its own “ghost”. Arrayed around the ice were flags of animated figures that produced a pose when clicked. In the center an infinity symbol of boat skeletons rotated in an armillary sphere and received a stream of hands emanating from a distant eclipse.

Machinima courtesy of Nakoto Exonar