Aqueous is a video-triptych that features an abstract animation. The liquefied images that appear on the screen are created with Youtube videos.
A wireless keyboard placed in proximity to the screens allows users to enter a query. The artwork will then download the first 100 videos on YouTube that appear under the selected search and abstract them into liquid forms. Certain details remain recognizable– a face, a hand, an automobile – in the constantly mutating amorphous shapes being generated by the artwork. By pressing the “D” key on the keyboard, the YouTube videos that form the abstraction will be momentarily revealed for 10 seconds. The artist hopes Aqueous will become a conversation piece within the Sobrato Foundation community, encouraging visitors and employees alike to try new queries, and witness throughout the day how such queries determine the color scheme and tempo of the abstraction
The triptych format references a rich art-historical tradition of threepanel paintings, evoking classical elegance while simultaneously being cutting-edge in its technological implementation. The abstract animation, spread over the three screens, is generative and forever changing, thus becomes a work of endless combinations.
YouTube is one of the most influential ventures that has emerged from Silicon Valley, and has had a profound global impact on the visual culture of the 21st Century. Aqueous becomes a tribute to the most significant encyclopedia of the present, as well as an homage to the relentless innovation that is part of Silicon Valley culture.
The artwork was commissioned under the advisement of Montalvo Arts Center’s Sally and Don Lucas Artists Program.
