Remoto is an immersive, interactive media art installation by Pablo Monterrubio, featuring a groundbreaking video system that he invented that uses headsets receiving live transmissions from multiple security cameras positioned throughout the space. This setup offers visitors a unique out-of-body experience, allowing them to view themselves in real-time from a removed perspective.
Remoto is also an interactive challenge.
The installation features paper mache sculptural forms depicting human organs of perception, attached with velcro to the walls. Visitors, wearing large spherical velcro masks atop the video headsets, are tasked with finding these organs, detaching them from the walls, and placing them on their masks—all while relying on their newly acquired external perspective to navigate the space.
This installation offers a playful yet profound exploration of identity, pushing participants to reconsider traditional notions of self. By blurring the boundaries between viewer/viewed, here/there, individual/collective, and human/machine, Remoto challenges conventional binaries and encourages deeper contemplation of our mediated existence.
Remoto first premiered in 2017 at Art Space Kneet in Seoul, South Korea, where it received acclaim from audiences and critics. The project was subsequently showcased at Mana Contemporary in Chicago in 2018.
In the intro room, visitors choose small magnet versions of the Remoto organ sculptures and arrange them on two round surfaces to create unique mask combinations.
Within the labyrinth, visitors must find the Remoto organ sculptures, remove them from the walls and place them on their masks to match the combination that they picked in the intro room.
The Remoto organs are handmade papier-mâché sculptures. The backsides of the Remoto organs have velcro so they can be attached and detached to the walls and the spherical masks.
Visitor’s then put on the video headsets and spherical velcro masks. The headsets display live video from multiple security cameras in the labyrinth.
Within the control room, the artist (me) chooses what cameras the visitors see from. I interact with the viewers by switching back and forth between the multiple live cameras. Visitors must learn to navigate the space using these alternating external perspectives. The experience lasts 5-10 minutes and is limited to a maximum of two people at a time.
I believe in creating artwork that engages viewers and encourages introspection/outrospection. Remoto delves into the relationships between our bodies and the spaces we inhabit—whether physical or digital—our connections with ourselves, and our interactions with others. It blends and transforms various layers of media and reality, resulting in a truly unique experience.
