RS The pools are filled with water and a tripod formed of three sticks is set in each of them. The fuse hangs from this tripod. I will be walking along this line and will ignite each of the fuses one by one as I walk along. The Ignition happenes delayed.
HUO This leads to an encounter. The delay causes the movements to become overlaid.
RS That's right, in Linz I want to create a time-sculpture visualizing and combining two countercurrent movements. I set fire to the individual fuses of two meters length each. Having covered the whole stretch I wait for the first detonation to happen at the other end of the line. When the first fountain of fire goes up I start to walk back.
HUO You are looking back on where you have walked before. You are catching up on your own past and at the same time you are being caught up by it.
RS I am walking towards the explosions and I will meet the fountain about halfway. The explosions approaching me are like my own shadow. Halfway along the stretch I will meet my own shadow. The act of igniting has become my past at that moment. The explosions happen at the intervals at which they were ignited.
HUO The sequence of explosions reflects the sequence of your first walk along the line.
RS The explosions are a shadow.
HUO It is a programme with pitfalls. You determine the structure of a programme. You are the one who sets it off and you provide for the deviations in advance. In accordance with Flusser, you facilitate reflection in a world ruled by machines about the question of finding meaning and purpose in human life in face of the accidental necessity of death.
RS I might die in the meantime. As long as I am alive, I have the chance of meeting my own past. If I walk too fast or too slow deviations will occur. Past and presence meet halfway. I am walking towards my own past.
Part of a dialogue between Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Roman Signer
