PLAY SINGLE CHANNEL VIDEO
S C A N
< to look over quickly >
< to examine closely >
CAROLE KIM direction/video installation
OGURI + ROXANNE STEINBERG dance
AARON DRAKE sound
JESSE GILBERT audio visualization
MOSES HACMON live-feed video
JANELLE WEATHERFORD lighting design/technical direction
BILL BALLOU technical direction/design
SCAN is a sculptural video installation that is brought to life through performance. The performance traces the journey of a person passing through a hypothetical scanning device of human consciousness as he enters into "mind space."
Translucency and projected light have long been an area of investigation for me. Through the use of translucent scrims and the insertion of actual space between, the eye composites the imagery through physical space. There is a different quality to this three-dimensional compositing that can appear more ephemeral or atmospheric. It also allows for the space to navigate between and embed the live presence of performer and viewer. Live cameras amplify the concept of instantaneity in my work stitching the media to the live performer and mirroring the installation back onto itself.
Immersion has been an important keyword in the circles of media artists working with installation. Carole Kim's installations have less to do with a desire to attain an "augmented reality" or a "virtual reality" than a hybrid space in which both illusory and actual merge together in an other worldly environment. The black mesh becomes a matrix to hold the floating gesture: sewn mono filament, drawn trails of glue, planes of a tonal range of netting. To move through and experience this interstitial projection space might be just one way of comprehending space in a slightly different way than we are used to encountering, allowing us to observe and contemplate the unexpected.
Inspiration sources: “The Mysterious Flame: Conscious Minds in a Material World," by Colin McGinn
“The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos” by Brian Greene
This project was initiated and produced by the Pasadena Arts Council and funded in part by the Irvine Foundation and an ARC grant from the Durfee Foundation
[an alien explorer who has visited earth converses with his commander: ]
"Meat. They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet...and probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."
"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?"
"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."
"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."
"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."
"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat." [Terry Bisson]
"Maybe objective space has a structure that enables it to contain both mind and matter in a smooth and natural way, but the manner of this containment is not part of our current understanding of space...In other words, it is only our ignorance of space that makes us think that consciousness is nonspatial." [Colin McGinn]