Red Armchair 4, is a speech activated interactive installation.

Velonaki has always been interested in the effect of fascination that projected characters have on spectators, not only in a cinematic space but in a gallery installation space.

Red Armchair 4 audience expectations were manipulated by withholding the full appearance/identity of the projected character, whose face was never revealed. In this work, the visitor walks into a red-lit room and is presented with a projected image of a woman in a black dress. She is viewed from the back, seated on a red armchair which ensconces her in a shell-like embrace. An identical chair is placed in the middle of the room, where the visitor can sit facing the back of the projected woman. On the floor there is a light box printed with the command words:

DECAYCONSUMETALKDANCESHRINKAWAKELOOKDIE

A microphone adjacent to the visitor’s chair enables them to talk to the woman on the screen by forming sentences that include the command words chosen at random (for example: ‘Talk to me’ or ‘Die for me’). Every time a participant says a command, the character is activated, moving from a still frame to a moving image. Her physical responses, however, are completely unrelated to participant’s spoken requests. She runs her fingers through her hair, falls asleep on the arm of the chair, swings her legs. She appears to be in her own space, comfortably consumed by self-absorption. The only time she stands up and walks towards the participant, her head is out of the frame; the participant’s desire to see her face is never satisfied.

Text M. Velonaki. Apples, wheelchairs and unrequited love. In C. Hart (ed.), Can We Fall in Love With a Machine? Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh USA, pp. 85–90, 2006.