|
 |
 |
|
|
Slipstreamkonza transposes, or ‘slipstreams’ the
invisible and inaudible processes of carbon photosynthesis into sound
and image, around the possible 'carbon sink', in native virgin
and disturbed grasslands ecosystems. Carbon absorption and release
data at ground level (up to 3 meters) on the tallgrass prairie in
eastern Kansas recasts as data sonification and visualization. The
breathing of the prairie, as carbon absorption and release, on a
diurnal pattern, changes throughout the year, depending on many factors,
including wind and sunlight, the latter varying dramatically with
the change of seasons. The huge data sets ( up to 6 million numbers
per day) involved in microclimate studies suggest a sublime
condition -- we approach nature through the veil of data, themselves
artifacts of our hypotheses. One may take measure not of the
prairie itself but of our frustrated and inexorable desire to comprehensively
understand it. Ironically I thought it would be productive to apply
Fluxus techniques (algorithmic strategies) to mashing both datasets
from the prairie and straight photography and audio site recordings,
into a slipstream, so in a way you’re combining the game-like
plays of instructions inside a site-system of numbers. Whether or
not the prairie really sequesters carbon in a way that could be productive
for humans and their economies of excess is up for grabs. But the
project has the advantage of letting the ‘presencing’ of
the data transpositions happen in an open, precariously variable
field.
Slipsteamkonza includes sonification/animation, medium format
photography, and digital photomontage.
Read more abou the Slipstreamkonza project >>
 |
|
|
|
