Stellar

My good friend and colleague Mike Lim has sent me a link to a blog about the artist Ignacio Torres. Torres' recent work 'Stellar' uses animated gifs to create a 3D image to 'heighten space and time'. He says "Their movement serves as a visual metaphor to the spatial link we share with stars as well as their separateness through time." 

Ignacio Torres 

I actually enjoy the visual richness of his work, and the sparkly 'star-matter' in the frames (OK, he's using reflective confetti, but it's convincingly stellar to me) adds a conceptual and tonal / textual richness to the images. But I'm not sure that the movement adds anything to the idea - I understand the concept of the "visual metaphor" to connect space and time (yes, 3D suspensions like this do tackle both space and time themes) but the movement is so limited it doesn't really connect for me. But I really do appreciate the intent, the execution and the investigation of this artist. 

It highlights for me the importance of ensuring that an animated 'Time Slice' like this needs to be conceptually rigorous. I am really interested in how an image sequence like this can integrate with video and a broader movement exploration so that the suspension (or Bullet Time, as seen in the test shot of Adam Synnot in the previous post) changes the viewer's experience of the movement and allows time for an analysis or contemplation of the selected moment. It connects, too,  with how the photographer chooses a particular moment to capture (Cartier-Bresson's 'Decisive Moment') within the flow / unfolding of 'normal' time - and takes the viewer on that journey to some degree.

For more of Ignacio Torres' work, check out his website.