Compass
Living installations
In the installations by Lawrence Malstaf (who is known among other things for his collaboration with Meg Stuart and other choreographers), the visitor is often an essential physical part of what occurs and he experiences it from the inside. They are therefore not static images or snapshots but mechanisms that start off a process and set materials, objects or a space in motion. They are living installations and in this sense can be compared to performances. They take the form of a loop whose duration depends on the visitor.
In Compass (2005), the visitor straps an ‘orientation machine’ around his waist. It then leads him along a virtual route. The viewer explores the space and discovers a tangible but immaterial architecture. He can follow the machine’s directions or go against them.
