POLLUTION
a video installation
Pollution is a video installation inspired by 21st century American landscapes that are littered with CRT televisions abandoned by the roadside. The installation consists of a towering structure of TVs that remind us of a time when technology began its rapid ascent and the end of the pre-internet age was drawing near.
Pollution consisted of 103 screens that form a 20 x 20 foot wall. The size of the installation’s structure was intentionally meant to intimidate the audience, to force them to become overwhelmed by the images being displayed and to force them to experience a certain anxiety that doesn't come across through digital observation. The wall of TVs fit together precisely despite the various sizes and shapes of the individual screens. Although this created an overall pleasing aesthetic design, the industrial, chaotic and obscene nature of the visual content provided a stark contrast.
Pollution is creator Dan Dowding’s vision of a society obsessed with the consumption of meaningless information, their growing desensitization of the world around them and of media’s role in providing this meaningless information and in desensitizing the masses. The original concept was to present a highly experimental film across the canvas of CRT's which would consists of separate images displayed on individual screens, but are carefully synchronized together to form one cohesive message.
Pollution: a video installation was an experimental interactive installation that lasted over the course of 3 years from 2013 - 2016 at BigArt Studios in Los Angeles California. It was featured in over a dozen different projects that spanned from music videos, short films and photoshoots as a multi-purpose visual platform. In December of 2016, the building was condemned by the city and all 70+ artist's were forced to evacuate the premises. This resulted in the removal and exile of Pollution: a video installation.
End of an error is the digital urn of Pollution: a video installation, holding all that remains of the abandoned project. Ironically the project titled Pollution never felt as complete as it did until it's demolition.
THE WORLD NEEDS
POLLUTION
WELDING
Dimensions: 20x20 foot installation
Materials: Steel, Wood, Foam, 102 CRT Televisions & 1 HD Rear Projection TV
Equipment: Welder, Forklift, Scissor Lift, & Ladder Lift
MIG Welders: Eric Land & Forest Emmons
Production Assisstants: Chaz Ahern, Paige Kimsey, Justin Petry, John E. Lee, Yuri Alves & Matt Wood
Going into this project with very little construction background, the undertaking that was the construct of the installation I knew was one of the biggest challenges I was up against. Knowing that the task which lied ahead was an impossible feat for one person I knew I needed to bring in some construction experts. BigArts Studio quickly became a wealth of opportunity where I was introduced to many talented construction artists, most notably Eric Land & Forest Emmons whom became a vital part of this project as the welding artists and construction consultants.
Before any actual construction began I worked with Eric extensively on a very specific planning process and Mock Up scaled to ¼ the actual size where my list of inventoried dimensions came into play. Eric used my inventory breakdown and made cardboard cut outs of every TV at ¼ scale. We then drew a box at ¼ scale of the overall structure (20x20 feet) and then I proceeded to tetris in the cutouts to create a seemingly visually pleasing arrangement. We decided that although this was intended to be a very chaotic arrangement there should still be a focal point. This lead me in the direction of placing the largest TV (72’) directly in the center surrounded by the next largest TV’s within the structure.
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Visually I wanted the structure to be seemingly stand alone and we agreed from the start that we needed to work with steel as these TV’s are not light in the least bit. This also served as a challenge to hide the steel from the audience as much as possible in order for it to appear that the TV’s were just sitting ontop of each other. This illusion pairing with the height of the structure would result in a nervousness and uncomfortableness for the viewer as the structure would tower overhead. I wanted the structure to reflect the overwhelming task of the project. Additionally, we would go on to include wood shims and expanding foam in order to compact the Televisions for added stability. Safety and security was a the biggest priority in the development and construction.
CONSTRUCTION
POLLUTION: THE FILM
LOGLINE: A white being (male and female alike) wakes on the shore and discovers a cable buried in the sand which leads it past civilization where it becomes consumed by the digital prophecy.
POLLUTION: a video installation, will be presented at the BigArt Studio in Downtown Los Angeles 2016.
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Length-------------10-20 minutes
Format-------------Multimedia (NTSC-4k HD) *presented in Standard Definition
Dimensions--------20x20 foot installation
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This video installation, will explore the excessiveness of human nature, addiction to technology and depict a surrealistic expression of mankinds obsession with consumption. Metaphorically the structure is a physical manifestation and representation of the mental labor and passion that goes into cinema unbeknownst to the audience. Through image and photography the structure’s size and power is unknown as opposed to the effect one has when standing physically by the structure. Visually the intention of the project is to surpass and encompass that idea. Film as a medium is reliant on many different forms of art coinciding within one another thus all the pieces of the TV’s and the project's reliance on the precise synchronization of the video elements. The industrial 20 x 20 foot structure consisting of more than 100 CRT Television's will be contrasted by images of the evolution of technology paired with the odessey of a being whose traveled past the brink of the digital prophecy. The multi-screen structure will act as a canvas for the neon-monochromatic & glitch art imagery (digital graffiti), lead by the main narrative through the eye of the installation. The imagery will also explore the juxtaposition of religion vs. the digital revolution to pose the question if God exists within technology while attempting to achieve a completely different technical feat in balance. The visuals will be melded together through audible synchronicity offering the viewer an overwhelming and all encompassing stimulating experience of senses through a clash of old technology meets new media.
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