DIAGONAL DRIFT

of MC ELWEE Van

UNITED STATES, 2006, 00:10:00

Production : MC ELWEE Van
Genre : Video art
Keyword : Experimental, Movement, Landscape, Rhythm

Summary :
Imagine a filmstrip of a nocturnal American landscape. The vertical frames, as usual, represent time, but here there are horizontal frames that represent parallel universes. This piece illustrates a diagonal movement across that field of frames, so that worlds continuously melt into similar worlds, always in-between realities. If these imaginary filmstrips are cut, twisted and turned back on themselves, the image changes abruptly. In keeping with the philosophy and the mood of the piece, a cellular automata program (Wolframtones) was used to create artificial mathematical melodies that constantly shift from one strange tonal system to another.

VAN McELWEE’s body of video work includes over forty single channel pieces and installations. Grants and awards include The American Film Institute Independent Filmmaker Award, The National Endowment for the Arts Independent Production Fund (seven time recipient), and a travel grant from the Government of India. McElwee’s work is exhibited extensively worldwide and is represented by The Kitchen in New York, Trabant Gallery in Austria, Heure Exquise! in France, and the Inter Media Art Institute in Germany. Van McElwee is Professor of Electronic and Photographic Media at Webster University in St. Louis.

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