Richard Wright, Jason White: Superanimism
Artist(s):
Title:
- Superanimism
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 1991
Medium:
- VHS videotape
Size:
- 3'00"
Category:
Technical Information:
Hardware: VAX 8530, IKON Framestore, SpaceWard, SuperNova, Sony BVU Recorder
Software: Artist’s ‘Rayscan’ 3D animation software, SpaceWard SuperNova Paint System
Other Information:
Notes: This animation is primarily about the problem of reconciling a sense of what it means to be human and alive with the intrusion of the technology or artificial life. This is achieved not just by the presentation of objects as organic entities but by using the also semantically relevant technology of computer animation to shift this arena to the symbolic world of computer simulation, where tight control of modelling, animation, and photo-realistic effects can probe this boundary on several levels and with greater visual breadth. The structure of the animation is based around a 3D modeled surface of the video screen itself, which functions as an interface (window/barrier/mirror/surface) between the artificial world of the machine and the external world of natural organisms. This surface incorporates aspects of the physicality of the human body and contrasts them with the artificiality of mechanical motion, alternating between the two, from scenes of body painting and “invasive” surgery reflected in a metallic plane, to whirling rivers of stone revealing a latent organic power, coagulating into sheets of the fossilized remains of dead life.
