Slide 1, original illustration
Slide 2, original illustration
Slide 1, As viewed through the viewfinder
Slide 2, As viewed through the viewfinder
Slide impression, as viewed through the viewfinder
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'Das Gesehen' Nik Nowak

‘We Carry The Past With Us’ CTM Festival 2012

A series of four portraits I created for the installation Das Geschehen (The Event) by Nik Nowak at CTM Festival. Das Gesehen is a sculpture, featuring backlit slides viewable through 24 individual viewfinders.

The portrait series explores archetypes and representation and is a repsonse to the sculpture’s militaristic form. Motivating forces fundamental to human nature are explored through a series of figures, sourced from ancient greek coins.

The images were developed with intricate 3d detailing and a subtle color offset at the pixel level to exaggerate the holographic effect and lens distortion experienced when viewing the slides through the installation’s viewfinders.

The title plays on both the psychological concept of archetypes; the individuals inability to escape from impressions and influences from childhood as well as the more literal meaning, taken from the coins themselves. These archeic pieces of metal, themselves nothing more than a representation, are completely unnecessary in this digital age, and perhaps are a sign of societies reluctance to fully embrace the future.