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The varied components of Aitken's visual exploration were only—yet masterfully—tied together by interiors (2002), a three-screen installation that traveled to Austria and London after its stateside debut. In Philadelphia, visitors entered a large room filled by a cross-shaped space delineated by walls made of semitransparent scrims and one open end. Four short videos, each with its own soundtrack, were projected one at a time in varying combinations on the three scrims located at the end of each stem of the “cross.” Each of the four scenarios featured a different character: a helicopter factory employee, a Japanese auctioneer, a young female handball player, and Andre Benjamin of the hip-hop duo Outkast. Each scene begins with a quiet moment of reflection on their immediate environment, situating the activity to come. Then the action takes off: as each character's activity increases in intensity, the viewer's eyes bounce back and forth from screen to screen, unable to take it all in. The coordination in tempo and sound of all three visible scenarios gradually becomes apparent as each protagonist reaches a heightened state of concentration. The factory employee sands a painted helicopter before erupting into tap dancing; the auctioneer practices his delivery at increasing speed and volume; the pace of the handball player's game picks up; and, after wandering L.A. in silence, Andre Benjamin bursts into rap.

Their internal focus is so extreme—a state that is likely paralleled by Aitken working methods in the studio—that all else falls away both on screen and off. Visitors bathe in the glow of images and are surrounded by the rhythmic crescendo of the soundtrack. It is at this moment we undergo Aitken's fusion of body and environment, glimpsing the fruit of his effort to fuse image with sound and life with work. We come off the high with the characters as Aitken introduces a peaceful coda to each scenario that reintegrates protagonist with surroundings. And the loop begins again.

Aitken notes that after the completion of these video installations, the past twelve months have emphasized “aggressive experimentation. This year has been an attempt to step back, to not make fully resolved work.” Whether that involves tweaking further his masterful understanding of architectural video installations or tackling new mediums, traveling the world or staying at home in L.A., it will seem like a distillation of Aitken's restless eye and of our current moment.