Independant

The Independant, or The Totem Pole, was designed as a mul­ti­me­dia hybrid that can be used across a broad range of archi­tec­tur­al solu­tions, stand­ing in delib­er­ate oppo­si­tion to kitschy instal­la­tions. It’s tand­ing over sev­en meters tall and com­posed of 111 tele­vi­sion screens.

The work was inspired by century-old columns that used to stand on street cor­ners and squares, cov­ered in poster announce­ments about what had hap­pened or was about to hap­pen. The sur­face of its screens, made of fused glass bars, dis­ables clear trans­paren­cy and thus mim­ics the ambigu­ous nature of truth and the influ­ence of pub­lic opinion.

The Independant was cre­at­ed by LASVIT for “Monster Cabaret,” the Milan Design Award – win­ning exhi­bi­tion pre­sent­ed dur­ing Milan Design Week 2018.

“It is an audio­vi­su­al labyrinth that fea­tures the most beau­ti­ful fake news that mankind has freely cre­at­ed and select­ed. It can bring the rain or the sun, it can flour­ish and it can burn. The most inter­est­ing mon­ster of our time can speak through its crys­tal screens, which deliv­er crystal-clear truth. What you choose to believe is up to you.”

The con­cept itself allows for many pos­si­ble read­ings, as it twists the neg­a­tive con­no­ta­tion of fake news into a more pos­i­tive, more pleas­ant dimen­sion of real­i­ty. The instal­la­tion is designed to be high­ly vari­able, achiev­ing dif­fer­ent com­po­si­tions in dif­fer­ent spaces – hotel lob­bies, con­gress cen­tres, air­ports, or casinos.

The Independant may blos­som with flow­ers, be washed out by rain or water splash, freeze over, or con­jure the illu­sion of a botan­i­cal gar­den or a nat­ur­al park with ancient trees and colour­ful rocks. It can broad­cast a speech, a con­cert, or a show – any­thing imag­in­able can be dis­played on its sur­face. It is a pro­gres­sive medi­um for shar­ing thoughts with­in the mod­ern mul­ti­me­dia world.