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HANNA HAASLAHTI White Square Finland / Belgium http://fantomatico.org/artworks/ hanna@fantomatico.org

White Square Interactive shadows Nothing exists in White Square if nobody is present. When somebody steps in the square of light, shadows appear circling around him. People find themselves in the middle of a living shadowland, where interactive shadows projected around their feet make contact with other shadows in the square. People can play together with collaborative visual structures created by shadows reaching and grabbing onto each other. The shadow world creates a reflecting surface of positions and movements done by people in the square. The key element of the installation is a human shadow, which is transformed into a interactive medium. The installation illuminates the network of connections between people sharing the same limited space. White Square tries to break the control and command-relationship people have with technology into a more intuitive and physical one. It is a public playground, which aims to stimulate a new awareness of ourselves as a physical being. White Square can also be seen as a media architectural space, which enchants people to move and express themselves, subtly using their whole body as a tool of interaction.

BIO Hanna Haaslahti (1969) is a media artist working and living in Helsinki. She works in the field of visual arts and new media (interactive installations and experimental films). Her artistic background is in photography (BA Lahti Institute of Design, Finland) and set design (Art Academy of Verona, Italy). She has been en exchange student in Arts & Technology department in the School of the Art Institute in Chicago (1996-1997) and completed her new media studies in Medialab at University of Arts and Design Helsinki (MFA 2001). She has been artist-in-residence at MagicMediaLab, Brussels (2000), in the Helsinki-Brussels artist exchange program (2202) and in the NifcaNewMediaAir, at the Pro Arte Institute, St. Petersburg (2003). Currently she is a board member at the Finnish society of media culture, m-cult. In her artworks human physique is in a central role, while technology reflects and echoes the human behaviour. The technology is adapted to sustain playful environments, which allow maximum amount of human movement. At the internal landscape of the artwork human emotions work as agency and control which guides the interactive experience. These installations aim to stimulate a new awareness of us, which is attained by emotional and physical curiosity towards technology. Because technology lacks all forms of emotion, it creates a transmitting and reflecting surface for humans. People can challenge and question their humanity in these artificial environments.