Ethereal Landscapes | Contained | Death of Ivan IIych

Ethereal Landscapes

Ethereal Landscapes is an interactive electronic installation that consists of series of hand- made photographic artists’ books which can trigger video clips to be projected through scan- ning the bar codes on the book’s pages. The installation allows a linear video experience, or it can be experienced non-linearly according to the order that the viewer turns the pages of the book and scans the associated bar codes. Scanning the embossed barcode on the book’s cover will enable a viewer to watch an uninterrupted 10-minute video and to turn the pages of the book at the viewers’ chosen pace unhindered by electronic navigation.

The work investigates the relations between life as seen on a biological level and from our human experience. The images from the book are referenced throughout the video and their combination with found and created sounds entwine together in a poetic arc around the processes of life, the passage of time and our un-deniable mortality. The recurrent trapezoidal shape threaded throughout in various forms -tables, doors, graves, pathways- suggest a portal to an unknown beyond, and the sound which returns in variation to it’s beginning echoes the circular forces of life.

The concept of the project is to create a meaningful video experience that is closely associated to the experience of reading, allowing for traditional linearity but also the temporal freedom a reader has in flipping to whatever page he/she chooses. Equally important is heightening the experience of the still images of the book through their association with the sound and moving images of the video piece. The book has 23 spreads and there are 23 video clips, each clip individually designed from the original source to closely fit the experience we would like a viewer to have with the page of the book that triggers it.