CATALYST
This project was created using digital video, musical accompaniment, projectors, wood, circuitry, and Max MSP.
Inspired by self-destructive art, CATALYST is an immersive, audio-visual sculpture that uses computation and human intervention to both build on and destroy a pre-existing work. The project blurs the line between artistic intake and output by forming a relationship with the spectator through the physical space and mechanics.
We built a wooden plinth and placed it in the centre of a four-walled, white room. On top of the plinth were nine identical, unmarked, metal knobs. On the walls, we projected four different takes of a pre-recorded contemporary dance piece timed to a musical accompaniment (produced by Factor Eight). The knobs on top of the box were wired to distort different aspects of the video and audio, presenting thousands of possible augmentations and subsequent distortions.
When participants entered the gallery they were encouraged to adjust the knobs freely. What one participant did was left unchanged for the next participant and so on; connecting each past participant with each future participant in a timeline of potential rearrangement and chaos.
By blurring the line between creator and consumer, the power to destroy (or devalue art) and the effort to please (or present art) both lie with the same person. Although adjusting the knobs distorts the media, it is up to the participant to decide whether or not their act is destructive in nature or collaborative toward the creation of a more experimental product.
CATALYST opened at NBYXE ‘23 and remained as a solo exhibition at AKA Artist-Run in Saskatoon, SK in September 2023.
by Nano Clow and Factor EightWe acknowledge the support of
