Vibeke Sorensen: „In Other Wor(l)ds“

Title: In Other Wor(l)ds (2018)
Artist: Vibeke Sorensen, Professor and Chair, School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Adjunct Professor, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, RMIT University, Australia
Credits: Thanks to Assistant Professor Galina Mihaleva, Mr. Nagaraju Thummanapalli, and Mr. Patrick Liew Quek Choy, School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Media: Digital printed textiles, real-time data and physical computing, LEDs, Arduino and custom electronics, aluminum
Size: 6 m x 6 m a 6 m

Abstract: In Other Wor(l)ds (2018) is an installation consisting of six 2-sided large scale (6 meters x 6 meters), textiles/tapestries embedded with digital technology that are affected in real-time by changing environmental conditions (ie wind and weather)from different planetary locations. The tapestries are produced using computed turbulence, and incorporate poetry (text) as well as Earth based data. As a large scale installation they invert virtual reality. Instead of immersion in a projected 3D space, the work translates data from the immaterial domain of the digital world into the material domain of physical textiles and touch. Each image frame is part of a temporal animation sequence computed at ~60,000 x 40,000 pixels and takes more than one hour to render. Some moments in the sequences are like glass, a liquid turned solid, some are threads in motion in the wind, others seem to flow like water, and dialog as poetic text-tiles. They are explorations into non-objective, but very real, turbulent physical, conceptual and emotional states that through physical installation are externalized into the material world. They are further impacted by live natural data (wind) and human touch. For this installation, the tapestries are considered layers of space-time, and experiential visual-tactile bridges for reflection on interior and exterior as well as immaterial and material experience. The winds of other places are the winds that move the tactile textiles enveloping viewers and the audience.