Tasman Richardson
Necropolis, 2012
Fully immersive multi-faceted media installation
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Necropolis is an immersive multi-media meditation on the nature of video and its strong affiliations with death culture. Consisting of six installations housed within a twisting, darkened superstructure, Necropolis channels visitors through stages of erosion, narcissism, acceleration, idolatry, self-doubt, and oblivion.
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A magnetic recording of a wave is eroded over time through continual re-recording, until it finally decays into a noisy foam of static. The re-recording is broadcast via a small transmitter to a collection of tube TVs strewn about like shells on a shore. The wave travels from one cluster of televisions to another, flickering up and down the beach. The TV sets are tuned to a different unused UHF band in succession. As visitors climb the ramp, they and the televisions are immersed in invisible waves.
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A magnetic recording of a wave is eroded over time through continual re-recording, until it finally decays into a noisy foam of static. The re-recording is broadcast via a small transmitter to a collection of tube TVs strewn about like shells on a shore. The wave travels from one cluster of televisions to another, flickering up and down the beach. The TV sets are tuned to a different unused UHF band in succession. As visitors climb the ramp, they and the televisions are immersed in invisible waves.
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On one screen exists a young girl, on the other, a woman. They stare out from their screens looking into each other's eyes. The glare of televisions is reflected in their gaze. A moment is held between the two, and then they cross-dissolve and trade places from one TV to another. One recalls the future, the other the past, but both are familiar and alike. The girl is Carol Anne from the film Poltergeist. The woman is Rachel from the American remake of The Ring. Although these samples come from films that were made two decades apart (and by different directors and writers from opposite ends of the globe), the context is the same. They are both preyed upon, by ghosts in the signal mediated by television. The characters appear to be the same person, in different phases of life. Across the gulf of time, death and fiction, they stare into a cathode ray mirror. Their faces, once illuminated by screens, have become screens to illuminate our own faces. Above and below, our flickering reflections repeat and recede.
18trichardson2012necropolis.jpg
On one screen exists a young girl, on the other, a woman. They stare out from their screens looking into each other's eyes. The glare of televisions is reflected in their gaze. A moment is held between the two, and then they cross-dissolve and trade places from one TV to another. One recalls the future, the other the past, but both are familiar and alike. The girl is Carol Anne from the film Poltergeist. The woman is Rachel from the American remake of The Ring. Although these samples come from films that were made two decades apart (and by different directors and writers from opposite ends of the globe), the context is the same. They are both preyed upon, by ghosts in the signal mediated by television. The characters appear to be the same person, in different phases of life. Across the gulf of time, death and fiction, they stare into a cathode ray mirror. Their faces, once illuminated by screens, have become screens to illuminate our own faces. Above and below, our flickering reflections repeat and recede.
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Parallel dots of light approach from a distance, accompanied by a low bass tone, and then pass the viewer. This sequence is repeated ,but each time is a little faster. As the lines gain speed, an audible bending of the sound is noticeable. A Doppler effect pitches the tone up and down more dramatically, similar to the sound of a race car passing. As the dots continue to accelerate, an array of optical distortions occur. At their peak, the dots occupy the entire length of the corridor, their movement so rapid now that they have coalesced into a single form. The pan in sound is no longer discernible as the sound fills the hall from front to back seemingly everywhere at once. The sensation of speed, suspension of time, and the spectacle of light and sound demonstrate the parlour tricks of video: frame rate and resolution.
20trichardson2012necropolis.jpg
Parallel dots of light approach from a distance, accompanied by a low bass tone, and then pass the viewer. This sequence is repeated ,but each time is a little faster. As the lines gain speed, an audible bending of the sound is noticeable. A Doppler effect pitches the tone up and down more dramatically, similar to the sound of a race car passing. As the dots continue to accelerate, an array of optical distortions occur. At their peak, the dots occupy the entire length of the corridor, their movement so rapid now that they have coalesced into a single form. The pan in sound is no longer discernible as the sound fills the hall from front to back seemingly everywhere at once. The sensation of speed, suspension of time, and the spectacle of light and sound demonstrate the parlour tricks of video: frame rate and resolution.
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An eight-foot, circular window resembling the Rose window of Notre Dame cathedral is the centerpiece. Each hole in the window is illuminated by a cinematic incarnation of Joan of Arc. The extremely short vingnettes are head and shoulder video portraits. Each was recorded live, scrubbed in real-time and played like puppets. The video segments radiate from the centre in chronological order. In varying instances they bite their lips, pause, hiss, scream, and weep. Together their sound is a droning chant. With each retelling and remake, the history is further obscured into vague iconography and cliched, exaggerated performance. The essence is lost; the truth reduced to the certainty of death. The faces of the performers are helpless to look away from the inevitable flames which persist in the centre of the window.
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An eight-foot, circular window resembling the Rose window of Notre Dame cathedral is the centerpiece. Each hole in the window is illuminated by a cinematic incarnation of Joan of Arc. The extremely short vingnettes are head and shoulder video portraits. Each was recorded live, scrubbed in real-time and played like puppets. The video segments radiate from the centre in chronological order. In varying instances they bite their lips, pause, hiss, scream, and weep. Together their sound is a droning chant. With each retelling and remake, the history is further obscured into vague iconography and cliched, exaggerated performance. The essence is lost; the truth reduced to the certainty of death. The faces of the performers are helpless to look away from the inevitable flames which persist in the centre of the window.
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A hole in a wall flickers with light. Visitors peer through this hole to see a video of snow falling in the woods accompanied by faint sounds of wind through branches. At first there doesn't seem to be much to the scene. However, if the viewer blinks, the video instantly cuts to black and the sound is suspended, only to resume when their eye is open again. Having the playback disappear when no one is looking recalls the uneasy sensation of looking over your shoulder to catch someone watching you, and finding nothing. This uneasy childhood paranoia is paralleled by our illusion of continuity in the memories of our day and the passing of time as seen through our eyes. Consciousness is a cut-up series of imperfect disruptions pasted together by faith and reason.
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A hole in a wall flickers with light. Visitors peer through this hole to see a video of snow falling in the woods accompanied by faint sounds of wind through branches. At first there doesn't seem to be much to the scene. However, if the viewer blinks, the video instantly cuts to black and the sound is suspended, only to resume when their eye is open again. Having the playback disappear when no one is looking recalls the uneasy sensation of looking over your shoulder to catch someone watching you, and finding nothing. This uneasy childhood paranoia is paralleled by our illusion of continuity in the memories of our day and the passing of time as seen through our eyes. Consciousness is a cut-up series of imperfect disruptions pasted together by faith and reason.
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Three films and three attempts at visualizing the incomprehensible. In each instance, the use of abstract psychedelics is reinvented. The first attempt uses classical animation cells and complex lighting effects. The second uses manipulation of liquids. In the last attempt, the scenes are rendered using highly detailed computer graphics. The three films are composited entirely in the viewer's mind and not beforehand. This is achieved through a ritualized editing process in which all three segments are matched to the same runtime length and then cut into single frames. One at a time, the frames are painstakingly "braided" together, so that the viewer sees (and hears) all three films simultaneously by optically mixing the rapid cuts together. The entire piece is then divided into two halves and stretched so that the perspective is ideal when standing at the threshold to the hallway. The viewer is obliged to pass through the hall, into the centre of the image, and into the darkness beyond.
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Three films and three attempts at visualizing the incomprehensible. In each instance, the use of abstract psychedelics is reinvented. The first attempt uses classical animation cells and complex lighting effects. The second uses manipulation of liquids. In the last attempt, the scenes are rendered using highly detailed computer graphics. The three films are composited entirely in the viewer's mind and not beforehand. This is achieved through a ritualized editing process in which all three segments are matched to the same runtime length and then cut into single frames. One at a time, the frames are painstakingly "braided" together, so that the viewer sees (and hears) all three films simultaneously by optically mixing the rapid cuts together. The entire piece is then divided into two halves and stretched so that the perspective is ideal when standing at the threshold to the hallway. The viewer is obliged to pass through the hall, into the centre of the image, and into the darkness beyond.