Layla Curtis, Antipodes
Mike Jones, Film and Video Umbrella
Layla Curtis' Antipodes is an online and photographic project which pairs webcam images from places on
opposite sides of the globe. Only 4% of the earth's surface
has land antipodal to land but it offers rich terrain for
fascinating parallels. As far away from each other as it is
possible to be, these distant 'twins' often possess
surprising affinities. Having researched multiple webcam
sources from myriad international locations, Curtis revels
in drawing out these points of connection: finding
topographical echoes in the landscape, as well as
architectural and cultural similarities. A number of
photographic diptychs, distilled from the stream of
webcam footage, press the point home. Highlighting both
the distance and the difference between us, they also
remind us how technology is bringing us closer together. 'Antipodes' by Layla Curtis is commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella, in association with Spacex. Technical support by Cuttlefish. Supported by Arts Council England.
Eyal Gever
Barry Hale - Festival Director Frequency Festival of Digital Culture, Lincoln
Eyal works with data and 3D printers to create beautiful objects, but
when you discover the source of the data their meaning and your
emotional relationship with the object is transformed. Partially
concertinaed geometric and organic forms emerge from the data of
automobile collisions and natural disasters..
Marshmallow Laser Feast
Barry Hale - Festival Director Frequency Festival of Digital Culture, Lincoln
Being at the cutting edge of digital art is one thing - being that AND playful, funny, disarming and entertaining is something else. These guys are all those things.
MerzBank, various artists
Vicky Norton, Film and Video Umbrella
Merzbank is a repository of artists' online works that draw
their inspiration from that trailblazing exponent of collage,
Kurt Schwitters. Guided by his innovations in the visual arts,
in spoken word, in typography and poetry, the project
anticipates how Schwitters' mercurial spirit might have
flourished in the online world, while highlighting the debt
that new forms of digital collage owe to Schwitters'
formative example.
All three projects, by artists Alec Finlay, Iain Forsyth & Jane
Pollard and Nick Crowe & Ian Rawlinson can be seen on the
merzbank.com website. 'MerzBank' is commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella. Supported by Arts Council England.
The Museum of Endangered Sounds
Kristy Diaz - Online Strategy and Marketing, Threshold Studios
I've had a lifelong obsession with sound. A former DJ and dabbler in music promotion and record labels, sounds have always fascinated me. The Museum of Endangered Sounds is an online repository of sounds of the past. Sounds that might otherwise be forgotten. Sounds that might become alien to younger generations; lost in the digital ether, to a Facebook notification, the keypad of a smartphone, an MP3 on tinny laptop speakers. But it's not a competition. Oh no. It's a celebration. A celebration of operating systems come and gone, the harsh, industrial noise of a typewriter or a manual till, the comforting beeps and bloops of the video games of your childhood. And if you dare, play them all at once.
