In this mixed media installation, I seek to explore the effects with which the relationship of perspective and technology has on our ability to see – and not see – various realities.
Wordy artist statement aside, this was an immensely rewarding project that allowed me to explore further the unique medium of animation/projection-mapping/found object installation. This is a medium and language I first began to develop while studying abroad in Rome with my 2040 £RA Installation (video) and have been hoping to continue ever since.
In this project created for my first Thesis I critique, I combined domestic found objects which bring to mind a sensibility of “home,” “childhood,” and “security” with a few malicious items such as a rifle, knife, handcuffs, and pistol. These items are painted in a matte white and arranged in a fixed stilllife composition. Through digital projection mapping techniques, the monochromatic items become the set for a projected reality which masks and reveals realities at whim.
Dazzle camouflage is employed as a traditional tactic to disguise and blend menacing objects with their environment and bright, playful, untextured colors reveal partially what has been before the viewer the entire time. Scan lines and waves reinforce the concept of technology as a tool and as a medium within this work.
The limits of the technology is what is of the most interest to me at this intersection. As the viewer moves around the piece – even in the line of the projector’s beam – the camouflage effect loses and gains credibility, ultimately reaching a threshold at which the projection is no longer able to wrap to the object and degrades to pixels and then voidness.
I greatly enjoyed the process and presentation of this work. Above, you can find a video documentation of the installation as presented during the critique. Additionally, a gallery of imagery showcasing the piece and workflow can be found below:
