STRATA film at FILE art festival. Artist Das Vegas.
STRATA film at FILE - Electronic Language International Festival - Fiesp Cultural Center, São Paulo, Brazil.
The projection on the building FIESP / Gallery digital SESI-SP at FILE LED SHOW 2016, São Paulo, Brazil.
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STRATA
With STRATIC we present several post-digital concepts to discuss the relationship of the digital in regard to our human lives. We emphasize the synesthetic experience along with other aesthetic experiences and materiality issues with manifestations of the digital in the physical world, tangible approaches to sonic performances, or exposure of internal logics of technological processes.
Glitch aesthetics
Returning to the emphasized post-digital quality of technological malfunctioning and its manifestation in artistic works, in the S T R A T I C the glitch appears directly from the electrical leaps, through which glitch appearances break the smooth flow of visual lines. This accidental glitch is derived from the electrical charges and appears out of nowhere. Such “glitch approach” refers to fault aesthetics principles. However, it is hard to notice a glitch in sonic appearances such as this, as the whole soundscape comprises drone-like music and incorporates many glitch-like sounds.
Manifestations of the video in physicality
Experiments with various screen surfaces caused us to add another layer in our performance and exhibit “digital paintings”. The different surfaces examine the notion of manifesting the digital and the glitch in other materialities. Many aspects become evident. For instance, the shape and size of the screen, the materials onto which the projection is beamed, the reflections emerging from the reflective surfaces, and the texture and materials of the screen. All these aspects cause both the digital and the analog to manifest in physicality. The post-digital attribute of the materialization of the digital manifests in the context of projecting the visuals onto various physical surfaces, as well as through hybridization of various formats and forms.
Exhibitions in various contexts
Earlier explorations of the S T R A T I C project have been exhibited at various events and in different contexts from art exhibitions and digital art festivals to conferences. The “digital paintings” (Figure 6) were displayed on various physical surfaces: the rough surface of the wall transformed the projection into a vibrant and wavy movement of colorful lines at the DKTUS art project space in Stockholm. The glass dome building was illuminated from inside by projecting the visuals onto the snow’s surface (Dome of Visions, Stockholm). The mega projection of the project was exhibited on a façade of a skyscraper at FILE - Electronic Language International Festival - Fiesp Cultural Center, São Paulo, Brazil, 2016.
more: www.simbelis.com & www.dasVegas.net
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STRATIC at CHI 2016 conference.
Publik | Redigera portfoliosida
The STRATIC / STRATA at Interactivity exhibition at CHI 2016 in San Jose, California.
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Mapping concepts of the project
By examining the post-digital qualities of the S T R A T I C project, we employed important concepts, material inquiries, aesthetic decisions, and experiences.
Abstraction
In this project, a particular focus has been put on researching the concept of abstraction and how abstraction takes place in HCI and the arts field. However, we also see the importance of abstraction in redirecting focus from a displayed content and storytelling to more visual, minimalistic and formalistic presentations, in which more extreme and sensual experiences may arise by examining the ways perception affects our experience.
One example is op (optical) art. Op art employs perception at its best as it explores the visual field of abstract images and creates illusory and imaginary spheres in which the viewer’s vision becomes confused and new visual narratives are created.
The general notion of abstraction relates to the rejection of the representation of realistic and visual references in the world. This notion shifts the focus from the content of the message to the sensual experience and explores the logic of the formal and minimalistic constructs using highly synchronized audio and visuals. This consolidated minimalistic appearance relates to the synesthetic experience, in which cross-modal associations create an involuntary physical experience.
Synesthetic experience with audio and video
In the S T R A T I C performances the audience reflected on a highly perceivable synchronization between the visuals and the sound. Such performances affect how the viewers hear the visuals and see the audio as, technically, both these modalities get generated directly from each other. In our project two modalities correlate, however, it is not a limit: “...the stimulation of one sensory modality reliably causes a perception in one or more different senses”. The HCI researcher Ilias Bergström also discusses the effects of audio-visual stimuli on the audience in connection with more than one modality and relates visual music and synesthesia with audio-visual perception: “Most relevant to the present discussion is the experience of sound as animated colors and/or shapes”.
Experienced synesthesia is a bodily and sensory perception of sound and imagery, in which sound and visuals merge into a single whole and the overlap creates a multi-modal experience. The interconnection between the audio-visual formats is shown through engaging the audience through bodily engagement. In the S T R A T I C installation, the sound is perceived through sight while also following the visuals through hearing.
The post digital bodily experience of sound
Another no less important quality was raised regarding audio when using powerful professional sound systems supporting low frequencies (deep bass) for the performances. This is one of the post-digital qualities discussed by Rasmus Fleischer, 2009, in which digital sound is amplified using a powerful analog system and is perceived through the full-body experience. Following this, the S T R A T I C project embodies the digital dimension by using powerful sound systems, so the whole body physically and bodily perceives digital sound through deep bass frequencies.
