Reflections &Object Permanence
Marco Pinter
InstallationJanuary 12 - February 4, 2012
Marco Pinter explores the fusion of physical kinetic forms with live visualizations. He finds inspiration in dance, sculpture, cognitive psychology, neuroscience and mathematics. His work frequently has two manifestations: one as performance and one as interactive installation..
Reflections investigates loneliness, mortality and existence within a frenetic world. The participant sees his or her shadow, which is cast by an imagined setting sun, projected onto the image of a field. As the sun descends, the shadow becomes longer and more surreal, creating a Giacometti-like reflection. Trees and bushes blow as other shadow figures pass behind the participant at a rapid rate.
The Object Permanence series, a collaboration with artist Nick Loewen, explores how we perceive the existence of objects over time. This is fundamental to how we experience our place in the world. By exploiting the perceptual effect of object permanence via computer graphics and robotically-controlled sculpture, over time the viewer perceives objects that do not exist. The work cycles between states of chaos and order, where the component sculptural systems are alternatively perturbed and at peace.
This work is funded in part by the Media Arts & Technology program of the University of California and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.
Special Event
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 7 pm
Featuring the following performances:
Gravitational Forces explores technology as a medium for artistic expression by using dance and video to create a multi-sensory experience. This performance represents the emotions and struggles we face as humans through a fusion of dance, video and generated sound. Dancers Anaya Cullen, Kaita Lepore and Steven Jasso pull from the audience’s “kinesthetic sympathy” with the aid of Pinter’s direction and technological additions.
In Close Proximity (created and performed by Marco Pinter and Ava Ansari) the audience intimately shares the visual and tactile sensations of the performers to create an experience which is sensual, disturbing, and at times darkly comedic. A female dancer has two live cameras, the first of which is her “third eye”, positioned on her forehead, and the second of which is her “hand eye”, held in her right hand. Both of these are magnified and projected at 15 feet across to the audience. The dancer studies her features and her skin before she becomes aware of the male “victim” sitting across the stage. She approaches him, explores him, probes him, scratches him. The process becomes increasingly absurd and disturbing as she switches from her fingernails to a hairpin to the blade of a scissors that trace his open eye, all while casually humming The Girl from Ipanema. Finally, she transfers her camera “eyes” to him and walks off stage, leaving the audience to follow her movement through his perspective as she fades into the darkness.
Press: Wired.CO.UK.
About the Artist
Marco Pinter has degrees from Cornell University and University of California. He is a 2011 recipient of the Visual, Performing, Media Arts Award of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center and his work is currently on view at the California Nanotechnology Institute. Pinter’s most recent performance, Gravitational Forces, was commissioned by the NEA-funded Contemporary Arts Forum of Santa Barbara. He is a contributing author to The McGraw Hill Multimedia Handbook and The Ultimate Multimedia Handbook. Pinter has 7 issued patents and 23 pending patents in the areas of live video technology, robotics, interactivity and telepresence.