Through the door the viewer can see a black and white video. Evolving and abstract, it references things partly viewed and vaguely known. Panning back and forth, up and down and switching from one view to another, the rhythmic nature of the scene intonates automation. This is perhaps the view from a deep sea submersible, the camera feed from a lunar lander, a robotic explorer or even possibly the image from a scanning tunneling microscope. The image is both intimate and vast, a landscape and architecture without scale.
Upon entering the space, a tall blue form is revealed and the faint whine of mechanics occupies the room. The blue form is rough, industrial and unfinished. At almost seven feet tall it is oddly not dominating as it is unlit but for the reflection from the projected image. As the blue form is investigated, the fact that it is slowly rotating and the simple but elegant mechanism causing that rotation is discovered.
Now inside the room, further investigation of the installation reveals two closed circuit television cameras tucked unassuming in the corner. Graceful contraptions made of wood and steel mechanically pan the cameras across the surface of the blue form. These cameras and the blue form are the source of the otherworldly abstract video.
The viewer first encounters the video, or more specifically a mediated reality, abstract and unformed it is open to broad interpretation. This reality is constrained to the composition created by the camera, whose focus is outside of the control of the viewer. In fact, taken alone, the video could possibly be a recording, from another time, the remnant or the document of an event past.
Upon entry into the space and having a direct experience of the blue form, the viewer is presented with an unmediated reality. The totality of the physical object is revealed and scale and material become apparent. This is the object. Undistorted and presented without the filter of any curated mediation.
Finally the loop is closed with the consideration of the mechanism that mediates the transition between the form and the image. The mechanically controlled cameras that negotiate a dialogue between reality and the representation of reality. Creating a forced perspective through the control of the composition, alien representation through lighting outside of the visible spectrum and distortion through variable focus and a reinterpretation of the aspect ratio, these cameras play a role of importance that is downplayed by their positioning and scale.
As we consider the world around us, it is important to consider the relationship between what is presented to us and what is reality, and the mechanisms for mediation between the two. Media has made our world smaller, allowing us to feel connected to people, cultures and events on a global scale. Yet we are at times incomplete in our understanding as we are offered information that is curated through not only a process of selection but through the medium in which it is delivered. In this installation the trio of elements, the video projection, the rotating blue form and the panning cameras create a dialogue between the real, the mediated and the mechanism for mediation. Three parts that are all focused on creating a specific experience, like a trio of musicians playing a composition, but the experience is discordant through its elements.