Not long ago, I attended a Second Life reception for Brian Eno’s 77 Million Paintings exhibit. His work consisted of patterns of light, colors pooling together and spilling into symbols and textures, telling an indecipherable narrative that could continue for an infinite period of time. It was as much an experience with the environment of onlookers surrounded by panels, or windows, through which image confronted thought like a foreign language, as it was a unique statement of expression.
Last week at the encouragement of a friend, whom incidentally is also the artist, I went to the newly renovated Cass Hotel in Chicago. Spanning 80″ across the back of the lobby counter, a DLP screen held an image that I had only heard about, but never experienced first-hand.
“It’s a fluid still,” I overheard one employee reciting to another. The panel actually contained an imperceptibly manipulated phase of image that was slowly transitioning from one photograph of the exterior of the building to another. In so doing, the artwork was using a very contemporary tool in its aesthetic mechanique, time.
What compelled me most by the work was the idea that it was not to be watched, nor could it be fully appreciated with any series of looks. It is art that is to be experienced – peripherally affecting oneself in a non-intrusive manner.
After viewing the piece for the first time in person, I understood the glimmer that had Doug so excited. We are surrounding ourselves with stagnant video displays and static billboards that are ripe for something new. Of all of the potential this kind of technology possesses with respect to pervasive computing and the re-purposing of surface for digital interfacing taking place in our visual world, I look forward to the effect this kind of temporal imaging will have upon our art world, where the artist becomes both a digital painter, choreographer, director, and experience architect all at once.
TransLumen Technologies, LLC Fluid Stills -
Douglas Siefken
