Nicolas Gaupp – SEE DJERBA Media Art Festival

SEE DJERBA Project

In different winds
Two spheres occupy opposite ends of the same line. One rests on the ground while the other drifts into the sky. Although they share the same geometry, both gradually disappear into their surroundings. The stone merges with the architecture, the transparent balloon dissolves into the air, allowing the illuminated line between them to become the work’s primary visual element.
Rapidly flickering wires transform the connecting line into an active trace that responds to the movement of the wind. As the balloons drift, the glowing lines continuously intersect, separate, and reconnect. The stronger the wind, the denser these temporary relationships become. Rather than drawing attention to the objects themselves, the work invites visitors to observe the constantly changing relationships that emerge between them. Once connected, the balloons no longer move independently. They begin to share the same fate, gradually reading as a single, interconnected body rather than a collection of individual elements.
Permeable grounds
The work shifts attention away from itself and towards the space it inhabits. Light is not the subject, but the medium through which the space gradually comes into focus.
Through slowly moving traces of light, the porous walls of Borj El Kebir gradually unfold into an evolving landscape of passages, cavities, and connections. Their movement feels almost organism-like, differing in speed, scale, and density as they travel across the surface. Softly shifting colours continuously reshape the atmosphere, creating images that never fully repeat themselves.
Occasional flashes gently disrupt the slow rhythm of looking. These brief disturbances redirect the viewer’s attention, encouraging the eye to abandon a familiar path and establish new visual relationships across the space. Rather than revealing the site all at once, the work unfolds gradually, inviting visitors to discover a place that has always bee there, yet often remains unnoticed.
ABOUT THE ARTIST

Nico Gaupp is an artist and designer with a background in interaction design and user experience design. His projects explore interactions between nature, living beings, machines, even fictional elements, and their surrounding environments. Alongside conceptual thinking, he is also interested in the physical presence of materials and the experience of making things by hand. Through installations and physical objects, he hopes to create works that feel approachable and easy to engage with, allowing viewers to build their own sensory and emotional connections through observation and interaction.