Benjamin Tomasi

zwei zwei Zweier (two two Twos)

2008, video installation, 1 DVD loop 20 min, 1 DVD loop 30 min, 2 monitors, 2 stands 

Based on the theory of mirror neurons, which work like an auto-poetic feedback in our brains, I designed a classic closed circuit video installation. The protagonist (a young man) had to concentrate for a previously defined period of time on yawning, while looking straight into the video camera which was recording him. Then he had to watch the video of himself yawning to get infected by his own yawning, while the camera recorded him once more. 

The two videos, which resulted from this procedure, where cut to 2 loops of different length of time. The two videos on screens are facing each other and by that are producing an absurd interplay. It lies between an open video player system which produces random yawning patterns and a random experiment, based on a neurological phenomenon.