2013 - Ongoing | Generative Video installation | found postcard, pixel-sorting custom processing application | Variable dimensions
Weather has been nice is a series of generative video installations in which vintage found postcards are slowly broken down into their basic elements. Mailed from around the world, with their exaggerated colors and iconic images, these commoditized stereotypical landscapes are non-places – at the same time unknown and familiar.
A pixel sorting algorithm manipulates the postcards, lunging them into movement, and generating a dynamic glitch that slowly decomposes into the dominant colors. The custom made application triggers a transformation, creating a system where the elements are continuously regenerating and composing new images. Each postcard reacts differently according to its own pixels.
The installation is an ongoing project that has taken multiple forms. It has been shown in gallery spaces projected onto different configurations of large suspended plexiglass panels, and displayed on expansive media walls. At Sonar, it will be shown as a larger-than-life projection on a plane hangar.
Weather has been nice presents us with images unfolding, becoming images. In so doing, they question the sense of place and sublime nature of landscapes.
WEATHER HAS BEEN NICE AT DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL
GENERATIVE VIDEO INSTALLATION: PROJECTION MAPPING ON HANGING PLEXIGLASS, FOUND POSTCARD, PIXEL-SORTING CUSTOM PROCESSING APPLICATION | VARIABLE DIMENSIONS
The installation consists on a variable number of large double-sided transparent plexiglass panels floating in the space, suspended from the ceiling. Different ‘decomposing’ vintage found postcards are projected onto a translucent film contained in each panel, allowing the image to be seen from both faces (front and back). Each image is being processed in real time by a custom made pixel sorting application that varies in speed every time it resets. The panels are hanged creating an in/out spatial configuration that allows the viewer to experience the piece either in an immersive manner, surrounded by the subtle transformation of the image, or as an observer gazing at a constantly changing landscape. In both cases, the image manipulation creates a contemplative state that refers not only to an external landscape, but also to an inner state of transformation. A looping soundscape reinforces the spatial experience of the installation and the subtle transformation of the images.