Output details
36 - Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management
University of the West of Scotland
Palimpsest
Palimpsest is an audiovisual artwork by artist Alison Clifford and composer Graeme Truslove; it is the second work in the Interstitial Articulations series exploring aspects of the interstitial through collaboration. Palimpsest focuses on mechanical form and its translation to 3D space, considering how gesture in sound might be used to manipulate the visual experience. The work continues and expands on audiovisual experiments by visual music pioneers, the Whitney brothers.
Building on findings from Substratum, which explored aspects of organic form through programming, Palimpsest explores mechanical form through 3D modeling, computer animation and programming. Using 3D software, a virtual light sculpture was created based on Clifford’s translations from the source photograph. A fixed video sequence was then created that experienced the sculpture from a range of perspectives. Palimpsest was constructed from recordings of different ‘journeys’ through the video in response to the audio. This was realized by means of a custom-made software instrument designed to remix the visual materials by synchronizing them to significant events in the audio. As a result, the sculpture appears to ‘perform’ to gestures in the audio, consequently contributing new methods and aesthetics in audiovisual art.
The work establishes a synthetic aesthetic characterized by representations of synthetic qualities in the light-forms rather than being driven by any aims at photorealism. It therefore considers newer models of visual representation offered by the computer based on mathematical modeling, exploring how the computer ‘sees’ the world.
Palimpsest was commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to accompany Brian Stefans' (UCLA) series on digital literature – ‘Third Hand Plays.’ The series introduces new forms of art to a wide “art-engaged audience”, and is archived on SFMOMA’s Open Space. It has also been exhibited at Seeing Sound, Bath Spa University, co-curated by the Centre for Visual Music, Los Angeles.
