sosolimited

By MARTÍN CABALLERO

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In the future, presidential debates will be conducted by life-size holographic avatars of the candidates that appear on giant screens and paint each other as either cutters or runners or some combination of the two. And by the future, we mean this Friday.

Local audio-visual artist crew sosolimited return with "reConstitution 2008," a real-time remix of the presidential debate that is sure to both spark political conversation and whip up the acid-tripping base of both parties.

"We're not political ourselves," says Eric Gunther, one-third of the Cambridge-based group along with Justin Manor and John Rothenberg. "99 percent of political artwork is heavily biased in one direction. This is meant to maintain the spirit of the debate."

Debate analysis itself is nothing new. The news networks shell out millions to scrutinize the candidates' every twitch or Freudian slip that might reveal fragile nerves or a hooker fetish. What sets "reConstitution" apart is the software, designed by Gunther and company, that analyzes content as it happens and then reassembles the information in different ways. For example, sorting the amount of times a candidate references his opponent or visually tracking specific body language. The presentation—a combination of Pop-Up Video and Tron-like graphic effects—is initially jarring, but eventually reveals a methodology.

"The work is very directed without being biased," says Gunther. "We look at things that can reveal a pattern. By adding or taking away certain audio-visual elements, we are giving people a view of the debate they wouldn't get anywhere else."

Gunther repeatedly emphasizes the importance of influencing perception rather than politics. Having introduced the concept in 2004, the group is seeking to refine their aesthetics for a more cinematic presentation this time, with more language analysis and 3-D video.

"If you are watching the debate in your living room, you are in a certain headspace with certain assumptions," Gunther says. "This is meant to shift that and see things in a fundamentally different way. We consciously change the headspace, but we let [people] read the subtext on their own."

[reConstitution 2008 with sosolimited plus DJs Soulclap, PTVN, Etan and Baltimoroder, Fri 9.26.08. ICA Boston, 100 Northern Ave., Boston. 617.478.3100. 8pm-midnight/21+/$25/$20 members. icaboston.org, sosolimited.com]