Public Art Registry
Artwork has been removed.
Photo: Nicolas Sassoon
RIPPLES - photo by Nicolas Sassoon
Various Downtown Screens
Robson & Granville Screen / CBC Plaza / VanCity Theatre / Telus Gardens Screen / Terry Fox Plaza Screen
The artwork has been removed from this location.
Civic
2016
Digital video file
Media work
No longer in place
City of Vancouver
Platforms: Coastal City 2015 - 2017
Description of work
Nicolas Sassoon has created three digital abstractions using high contrast black and white animation. At first glance, these may seem like static on old tv sets. The artist plays with this association with the wave-like electrical interference of the past and explores the line between digital and organic patterns. These allover screen patterns are meant to be immersive encounters with the digital realm while evoking the play of light and dark on the water and the hypnotic visual effect of rain and waves along the coast.
Artist statement

RIPPLES is a series of three screen-based animations created using a digital moiré technique. This animation technique is central to my practice; it consists in the overlapping of two images generating the illusion of a third image. Each work is produced using this method; two grids of pixels are overlapped and set in motion to generate a digital animated moiré. Alongside the use of digital moiré, the animations from RIPPLES display a common visual treatment: Streaks of hard-edged pixels combined to a minimal color palette. This visual treatment gives each animation unique graphical and kinetic qualities, reminiscent of early computer graphics and endemic to screens and matrix display technologies. The RIPPLES animations are initially shown on computer screens. They are published online as animated GIFs displayed full screen on HTML pages. The animations operate as seamless loops with no beginning or end; their duration online is determined by the viewer’s experience. Meanwhile, each animation encourages a contemplative gaze by combining textural and pixelated elements to a mesmerizing and infinite motion. Specifically, the animations from RIPPLES are informed by memories of rainstorm textures, sand patterns and ocean waves. Each animation attempts to emulate visual and behavioural qualities from these atmospheric elements into digital forms. This process happens slowly through a series of visual experimentations; when a visual experiment feels familiar with the natural references, it is developed to enhance and isolate these specific traits. The resulting works appear like distant recollections of the natural, fluctuating between organic form and digital abstraction. The space of the screen oscillates between depth and flatness, natural and synthetic, merging all into a hybrid form. The flat pixelated graphics flood the monitor, the endless motion does not give rest to the eye. The display becomes a reflecting pool; a space of contemplation on the presence and nature of screen technology.

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