The Imaginary Museum of Revolution

A project in collaboration between Tjebbe van Tijen and Jeffrey Shaw, first conceived for the bicentennial commemoration of the French Revolution of 1789. The mini statues were sold from two automatic vending machines. These statues were no real sculptural objects, but postcards with an image of a statue and a bar code. The public had only one interactive installation at its disposal, made up of a pedestal with an built in bar code scanner and a touch screen. A large video projection system made it possible for a bigger group to see the individual interaction of a user of the system.

The whole set up was in a large darkened space in the Bruckner Haus. For a few shillings the public could buy a postcard with a statue representing a specific revolutionary moment. After inserting the card through the scanner-slit, a short audio visual sequence introducing that particular historical moment was shown. This was followed by a visual description of that revolution using artistic fusions of images from a wide variety of sources.

The sequence ended with a graphic summary of the event: a schematic map showing country and continent for space, years for time and a set of three specially designed pictograms (actors, actions and motifs) to summarise the ideology. On the basis of a large database with over two thousand revolutionary moments, linkages in time, space and ideology with the original chosen historical moment could be browsed. Additional audio visual information on personalities involved, iconic symbols and songs used in the chosen revolution were also available. The public consisted for a great part of school classes from local middle schools.