NEAR=FAR (So Near and Yet So Far Away)
A Virtual Unreality project by LoVid (Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus)
produced In Absentia for Futuresonic 2007
Produced In Absentia for Futuresonic 2007, NEAR=FAR (So Near and Yet So Far Away) is a Virtual Unreality project by LoVid (Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus). In an installation in Manchester, flat 2D abstract video is viewed through a lo-fi binocular tube constructed from cardboard, while LoVid's Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus are themselves represented by life-size cardboard cut-outs covered in printed colour scans of the artists dressed in VideoWear.
A New Project For Environment 2.0
Festivals compete against each other to see how international they can be; how many international artists perform, the number of people in the audience to have travelled from far flung lands, etc. The idea of being a "local festival" is a long way off. The expectations of media, agents and funders dictate that. And, to be fair, festivals play an important role in introducing ideas from far away, and of fostering a sense of internationalism in troubled times, which should not be underrated.
To launch the Environment 2.0 project Futuresonic turned to New York artist group LoVid to create an artwork engaging with these issues. The first concept was that LoVid would travel to Manchester in a cargo ship. They planned to blog the experience of oceanic travel, and drop sensors over the side to measure seawater temperature and pH variations, providing raw materials for an installation/performance in the festival.
Swift revision was required when it was discovered that this is near impossible to attempt. It is not easy to be a stowaway these days, thanks to the insurance certificates and training required to board a working ship. Some ships accept paying customers, but due to the numerous and exhorbitant taxes charged at the sea ports, this is vastly more expensive (to a factor of 15) than flying.
One thing which was not an option was to give up and fly. Instead LoVid gallantly decided not to attend Futuresonic in person, but instead to send virtual facimiles of themselves, and to develop an alternative project which explored the play of presence and absence in their new found predicament.
The outcome is NEAR=FAR (So Near and Yet So Far Away), a Virtual Unreality project by LoVid (Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus). In an installation in Manchester, flat 2D abstract video is viewed through a lo-fi binocular tube constructed from cardboard, while LoVid's Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus are themselves represented by life-size cardboard cut-outs covered in printed colour scans of the artists dressed in VideoWear.
The internet and wireless technology allow us to instantaneously transfer information while flight enables the rapid physical transportation of materials and people anywhere in the world. Together, these technologies give an impression that the world is getting smaller. However, as technology offers new capabilities, it also forces new limitations. We are strikingly aware of 30 seconds a website takes to load, while a single gigahertz processor becomes slower than a glacier. And of course, all of this rapid transit sucks energy, burning fossil fuels and affecting the environment.
Taking the hardest choice, LoVid and Futuresonic decided they should reduce emissions in absolute terms, by going nowhere. But this is just where the story begins, for the internet is never what it seems. Even though NEAR=FAR is made possible through technology, it is more concerned with technological limitations and how the virtual world mutates, rather than mimics, reality. The virtual LoVid travelling to Futuresonic, are not the same LoVid who are sat at home sitting this one out. In NEAR=FAR, it is not just data which degrades - LoVid's cardboard avatars and periscope/peep boxes are fully recyclable and so they also mutate.
Drew Hemment & Kyle Lapidus, April 2007
To learn more about Environment 2.0 click here.