Sickhoes #5 Spaces of Species

Sickhoes #5 Species of Spaces, digital landscape

For the fifth literation of the video program in Sickhoes, Sickhouse selected 4 new videos exploring digital landscape in a broad sense from abstract evocations to social contextualisation. Inspired by the paintings in the exhibition of the museum we wondered what landscape can be in digital realms and the shift of what space then means.

• Katoenopolis - Iain Douglas en Mark Coverdale

Especially for sickhoes and inspired by the works of the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Iain Douglas and Mark Coverdale create a new poetic machine consisting of 24 micro poems. The video is a magical realist exploration of the textile similarities between Enschede and Manchester, through painting, geology and sociology, narrated by the art movement Fluxus. For the opening, the artists will perform the piece live in the Sickhoes cinema.

> Performed live during RMT next on Thursday 25-04 at 19.30 and 20.30
link to the program of RMT next

• Mer violette parme -  Isabelle Arvers

Mer violette parme is part of Arvers’ ongoing abstract machinima series La Mer (2016-) which depicts shapes and abstract landscapes created by the Moviestorm game engine. Evocative of peaceful marine scenes, these videos produce a hypnotic effect on the viewer as abstract patterns folding and unfolding become a generative matrix of what Georges Pere (French writer) called species of spaces. This mesmerising, rhythmic movement alters the viewer’s perceptions. This series of work started as a reflection on the non narrative possibilities of video game spaces and the interaction between the screening of such a video and the public/performers watching it.

“ Looking for patterns that wouldn’t mimic wax, I ended up using waves in the game engine and moved between lines with my camera, fascinated by loops and glitches in the mountain and waves representations.”

• Distributed Identity of an artificial Landscape - Iris QU Xiaoyu

To reach a general level of intelligence, a system must understand how it’s situated in the environment. Though most Artificial Intelligence systems manifest as software algorithms, they depend on a ubiquitous hardware infrastructure to exist. The supply chain of AI relies on large quantities of rare earth minerals harvested from unsustainable mining methods, forever altering the landscapes. Data centres consume roughly one percent of global electricity usage, generating a ubiquitous, constant humming noise around their existence. This project attempts to piece together the scattered identity of an AI system, draw a direct link between the system and those hidden landscapes, and construct an embodied experience for an artificial system located “on the cloud.”