Hidden truths from behind the screen

PHOTOGRAPHER and video artist Robbie Cooper is intrigued by and immersed in the effects of the hours we humans spend looking at images on television and computer screens.

For his latest exhibition, at the National Media Museum, in Bradford, he has worked for six years with volunteers who have allowed him to record how they interact with screen media and detach themselves from their immediate surroundings.

Featuring new photographs and videos, Robbie Cooper: Immersion also looks at the spread of the "unreal" into daily life and human beings' relationship with visual technology.

The images of faces are recorded using an adaptation of camera technology called an Interrotron placed inside the screen, which makes it look as though the subjects are staring straight into

the lens.

The expressions captured range from the delight and wonder of babies and toddlers watching their favourite TV programme, to horror as fans become engrossed in gory films or documentary footage of real-life violence, men and women watching adult movies, and the intense concentration and sometimes aggression of teenagers playing action video games.

In another set of images, titled Alter Ego, Cooper photographed people from across the globe who create computer-generated characters known as avatars as representations of themselves to populate online virtual worlds and interact with other avatars.

The pictures were inspired by the work of a divorced man who used the avatar creations to communicate with his children. Pictures of both their real and virtual selves are shown together.

This show is the first time Robbie Cooper's work has been gathered together for a major exhibition.

"I'm excited to show Alter Ego with the Immersion work which grew out of it," says the artist.

The Immersion images have such a power to unsettle the observer because they give insight into how an individual responds to stimulation from the world they are entering via the screen, says Cooper.

We see responses on people's faces that we would rarely witness even if we were sitting in the same room with them and absorbing the same material.

"There's an intimacy about our relationship with visual media, and by using camera technology I've been able to see a point of view which amounts to invasion of privacy, but, of course, all the subjects agreed to the project, and, over time, became used to the idea that the lens was in there beyond the screen and, eventually, oblivious to it.

"I'm not campaigning or trying to make a particular statement about how and why people use media – I'm doing something I'm interested in and enjoy. But statistics from the US tell us that adults spend, on average, eight hours a day in front of screens, and children four hours. Britain isn't far behind, and it's an accepted part of everyday life."

Cooper was a photojournalist until a few years ago, before switching to video and large format photography.

"I became interested in moving away from taking pictures to show what's going on, towards having an

idea and exploring how to express it."

Have any of the images produced for Immersion (which is an ongoing project) surprised him?

"Yes, for instance, there's one of a very small child who was watching her favourite TV programme, and it's as if she is not only watching the programme but also acting it out in her head, her face changing from smile to scowl as she watches intently."

Although he says he is not making statements about society's growing use of technology and the images we are bombarded with on a daily basis, Cooper's work does provoke thoughts about whether IT is creating people who are increasingly isolated and detached from the real world or creating more connected and communicative citizens.

Robbie Cooper: Immersion is at the National Media Museum in Bradford until September 5. Entry free. Information: 0870 701 0200 or www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk