Ballade of Women is an interactive exhibition that aims at exploring human rights from a female perspective.
It leverages on the concept of engagement through embodiment. Visitors of the exhibition are actors of the dynamic landscape that shapes around them and because of them. Visitors, through their sensitivity, interact with the installation, in a continuous dynamic, meaningful dialogue. They learn, grow and form a stance, because they are actively engaged in what they experience, in the dynamic space.
In one space, the three original paintings are presented and, in another, an interactive installation that plays and elaborates on the themes of each of the three paintings is located. In the installation, representations of these three painting are fragmented, and float in the space, much as the information we have about their subjects has been fragmented by history and politics and the speed of our world. Set on rotating spindles, these fragments resist attempts by the viewer to capture them as a whole. The screens only provide a complete view of the paintings at selected times and from specific view-points in the room. When the screens are positioned in a fragmented way, they display media coming from online groups, discussing issues addressed in the exhibition. The screens’ movement is influenced by the physical presence of observers and by the online discussions. Software continuously monitors news related to the treated themes and how these are addressed through posts and online discussions. The number of threads created from the internet is an input for the installation and influences the speed of movements and informative content. The soundscape allows the viewer to pick up fragments of the play of a selection of poems, related to the three themes. Verses are whispered and vanish, immediately after being heard.
This dynamic experience suggests that each of us can contribute to compose a harmonious picture of the complex and controversial world of women's rights, by approaching it, and by being confronted with points of view of other people, facing the same topics from different perspectives all over the world.