The Other (2008) is a project made in collaboration with choreographer Anna Koch and actor Simon Norrthon.
It isn’t normally considered particularly advantageous or amusing to be defined as ‘the other’. It is an awful sort – nothing less of an abject, the repugnant, or even disgusting. But ‘the other’ can also be someone who is yearned for, someone to aspire to, as presented in philosopher René Girard’s idea of ”the mimetic desire”. He arranges a triangular relationship: subject, object, and mediator. The thought is that the subject’s desire for the object is aroused through the mediator, who is the one with access to the object. Ultimately the subject wants to be the mediator, which creates an intricate web of ambition and craving.
A performer is filmed in an office cubicle. There is a desk with a computer screen, a lamp, and a chair. On the other side of the wall, the performer has a doppelgänger who exists in a mirrored office space. This act by the performer in the office is recorded in advance. A screen is mounted on the table. The screen shows the first recording mirrored alongside the live film recording of the room. It creates the perfect illusion with a ”dollhouse” perspective and a view into a set of twin rooms.
