circuit at The Center of the Universe
My god, finally ran through the entire video production sequence in FinalCut Pro / QuickTime, etc., to get a simple sketch piece to the blog. It’s not optimal as the original footage is from an old iPhone versus a newer iPad Pro and such, but … First time in a couple years, it’s always such a hassle to start with raw video, an idea, and squeeze that through an endless series of constant externally-imposed permutations on editing platforms and exporting formats/codecs/resolutions that are currently acceptable to most browsers and servers. Especially when memory is compromised! gah!
This, a circuit (aka, cycle) around the center of the universe, something I ritually perform on each visit. I have used the circuit/cycle concept to ascribe the presence of place and presence within that place. It dates back to the very early piece “memories of three infinite half-spaces” filmed at the site of a huge jökulhlaup in Iceland in 1997.
The audio is a simple ambient track recorded from the base of a telephone pole near the center, droning on in the -20F winter night chill of the Valley.
commuting: through the tunnel and on to the Post Office
two circuits
meditation on duck …
two circuits
three circuits/cycles
circuit :: edge :: cave
looking around Suomenlinna (home)
Here. Around the island in the cold, though fortunately calm, airs. A cycle/circuit freezes hands in the short moments of unsheathed revelation. The ice on the harbor is only a couple feet thick so that the ferry doesn’t have too much trouble making way. Full moon hangs. Cruise ship in blue ice leaves carbon trails in blue air below white moon. I’m leaving the island for something.
cycle – Big Trees
A primary movement among the Big Trees. Cycle. Creating a momentary vortex to dynamically lock self to place. Or perhaps to spin all belief into the Void.
back to the center
(re)turning from the snow
into the desert
yli Tornionjoen: cycle
On the way back from the swimming pool, crossing the Tornionjoki Bridge, ice still quite solid and at least a meter thick. Is spring in sight?
rgb
two sketches from the Center of the Universe…
memories of three infinite half-spaces
00:03:00, Hi8 NTSC, stereo audio, 1997
An infinite half-space is a mathematical tool used to construct, model, and analyze a theoretical spatial representation of the earth or any situation where two unlike substances are coming in direct contact. A sphere of infinite diameter is bisected by a plane. This plane represents the surface of the earth. Above this plane is nothing (or, a dialectric constant, depending on the model), below is the substance of the earth itself, made up of whatever defined substance the geophysical model-maker constructs. In this short video, a cycle of memory becomes the constructive framework for three transits across seemingly infinite half-spaces. Reality is subsequently transformed by the infinitude of the model. The concentration of the tool-wielder is momentarily lost. The plane is skewed and rotated 90 degrees,and contains non-linear imperfections that cause instability in the model calculations. Nothing is what it seems. Quantum Darwinism perhaps? The Observer shares the vision — despite the specious chaos generally reigning — and provokes the transformation of idiosyncratic isolation into infinite union.
The raw material for this video came from Hi8 NTSC footage filmed on location at the foot of Langjökull, Iceland in May 1997 at a scene of catastrophic post-volcanic jökulhlaup (sub-glacial flood-burst) the previous year. It was dumped directly into an AVID digital video system for non-linear editing during the Polar Circuit artists residency program in Tornio, Finland. The video imagery was heavily processed with existing AVID image-manipulation options and then a final mix was made. The six-track stereo audio, also taped in Iceland, was mixed down from a variety of sources including a flock of gulls and terns attacking a school of small fish near Akureyri, an old Toyota station wagon driving the ring-road, and other ambient samples. Countries of production: Finland and Iceland.