Space On and Off Screen: The Détournement of Documentary into Video Installation

This essay proposes the détournement of the documentary film Displacement (Nogueira 2021) into a video installation, as a process to subvert the sequential documentary account of reality, as well as to interrogate space and movement on and off screen. Instead of editing and presenting the images and sounds in a continuous f low, the setup of the installation fragments the narrative and replaces the sequential format by a projected, sculptural, four-channel experience, composed of a prologue and three acts: (1) the family’s daily activities; (2) disruption of the quotidian routines; (3) the family’s displacement. While the installation projects the prologue onto clear white translucent plastic (like the ones used to cover construction sites) at the entrance to the darkroom, the three acts are projected on the three walls surrounding the audience in the darkroom. The result is an intersection of images and sounds: a juxtaposition and intertextuality of the content to offer an immersive view into family life. It also raises the question of embodiment in video installations, especially the notions of spectatorship, authorship, reality, performance, and, most importantly, what the boundaries of the screen are in the expanded practice of documentary film.