Highway

The glow of the screen is alluring, yet it displaces me from reality. Through the artwork I make with electronics, I confront the disconnect between the perpetual advancement of technology and the erosion of the natural perceptual awareness of our immediate environment. I explore my love/hate relationship with computers, as I contend with a mediated existence. In the video highway, a visualization of the GPS grid swoops past the viewer as they voyage down the freeway, fully immersed in a simulation that signifies the real environment. This work comments on the virtualization of the American landscape; the traveller now experiences the road through an electronic lens.

Distorted machine hums and road noise confront the viewer as they travel down a dark path illuminated only by a discrete data markers and representations of real landmarks and road markings. highway is an immersive experience. This work is typically viewed through heads up virtual display the viewer wears in the gallery space.

The visuals were created with a digital application created in Max/Jitter that produces results similar to the Rutt/Etra video synthesizer or Paik/Abe Wobbulator. The audio was recorded in the field and edited with Logic Pro. The contours of the landscape are indicative of the resolution of GPS topography, a representation of the digital landscape we follow while navigating with such devices.