A Common Level 4
Let Me Walk Your Way

DATE: May 2003
LOCATION: Urbana / Boston
EVENT: In-Out Festival 03, Prague

Kevin in Urbana and Maria in Boston take simultaneous walks, with Kevin dictating Maria's path via cellphone. Through postproduction, Maria is later transposed on to the setting of Kevin's walk.

This project was the first of our collaborative series, one of several projects by Maria that explore telepresence through video, from the Common Level series.

For the video, Kevin and Maria arranged to take a walk together via cell phone - Kevin in Urbana, and Maria in Boston during a Fulbright residency. Kevin dictated to Maria in realtime every step and change in direction he made, while Maria attempted to follow along in the same rhythm and pattern through space.

Kevin videotaped the Urbana walk from his own perspective, while Maria videotaped hers from behind, with aid of a third person. In postproduction, Maria's head is later composited onto Kevin's view.