That Was The Week That Was — 18th September 2022

This week I had two priorities: finish the work for the IN TOUCH group show curated by VerticalCrypto and Anika Meier and also make good progress on the real-time work for the Herbert Franke Tribute.

IN TOUCH

For IN TOUCH I created a still image born from the passenger data across all the Berlin airports from 2019 – 2021, revealing the effect of the pandemic through the difference in airport traffic during that time. The final work is a mutation of flesh and metal – human beings interacting with the infrastructure of airports and aircraft, with the silence and stillness caused by COVID very evident as time spirals from the bottom towards the top.

Taking almost two days to render, I had to crank-up the sub-surface scattering because of the use of a skin like texture which otherwise would produce a noisy image. Also adding to the render time was the size of the image – over 14,000 pixels high – but this will allow the eventual collector to create a large high resolution print if need be. The work will be on show on 23rd September at Dekabinet, Berlin and will be available for auction via the VerticalCrypto platform.

Herbert Franke Tribute

I'm honoured to be part of this group show and drop in Linz as a tribute to computer art pioneer Herbert Franke. The work I'm creating for this show is a physical machine which generates patterns in real-time in conjunction with interaction from the viewer in the space. I've always felt work doesn't become art until the viewer sees the work and the interaction which takes place in the space in-between. This piece is coming together nicely, using a custom built system. Show opens in Linz on the 30th September.

Elsewhere

Whilst these two things were taking up all my time, I did manage to take time out to watch a couple of films via my BFI subscription: Dogman from 2018 and The Proposition from 2006. Both highly recommended.

Meanwhile I'm loving my new DROSSELMEYER TEA INFUSER. Best I've ever used.