About Flow 8VO
As the Print Club idea was beginning to take shape, in Summer 2016, I was also working on Flow 8VO, a new 24 minute 4K kinetic study for screen display. The idea being to add back illumination, motion and time to the work for the first time, my first substantial experiment in this new field - digital screen art.
As people increasingly have large flat screens in their work and living spaces, there seems to be a growing opportunity to make new work specifically to inhabit this new format, and explore the possibilities that adding time and motion can bring to the studies.
As a result of the project I thought I’d enter the Flow 8VO piece into the RWA Open 2016. Somewhat surprisingly they got back to me and asked me to reduce the running time to 3 minutes, and to reduce the resolution from 4K UHD, to 1080p, because they were intending to make a single showreel of screen art submissions. Having somewhat begrudgingly re edited the piece to fit their format, they then rejected the whole idea! And so I thought this new ‘Salon des Refusés’ piece should become the next edition for the Print Club.
I went on to make a glossy box for the USB3 stick that the artwork resides on, so there is also an interesting interplay between the relative immateriality of the artwork for screen, and the printed container that packages it. As a format, digital screen art continues to have the relative problem of having little or no material presence to transfer at the point of acquisition, leading me to think that each piece would benefit from being packed like a gatefold record, or similar, so that there is a graphic vehicle to store the more ephemeral digital content, in much the same way that a record sleeve encases a vinyl record, with both forms needing to be played to enjoy the actual content of course.
Flow 8VO, in the studio & in situ
Print Club blog, September 26th, 2016
“...I hope it has some of the colour, light and excitement that you get with a contemporary stained glass window. A digital drawing with time, motion and back illumination added into the mix…
…I've just completed the 2nd edition for my Experimental Print Club, so it'll be winging it's way towards your mail box very shortly... inside the box you should find a USB data stick with a 3 minute edit of my Flow | 8VO screen art piece, ready to display on laptop, screen, TV, pad or mobile, as you prefer...
…Adding time and motion to my Flow geometry has been a fascinating adjunct to the project, and it'll be interesting to see how screens may, or may not, begin to be used as display devices for contemporary print in the future. I hope you enjoy this piece, and I'm looking forward to sending Edition 3, the sunflower piece, in November…
…I set about editing the work to fit their requirements, and as a result have ended up with a kind of shortened edit at lower resolution for a smaller screen. A kind of digital maquette of the larger work. It didn’t take a huge amount of extra thinking to realise that this maquette would make a good addition to my Print Club project, and as such I’m planning on sending out a copy on a USB stick, sometime in the next week or two...”
Text from the Experimental Print Club blog, dated September 26th, 2016
This short promo video shows Flow 8VO in situ on three vertically mounted, ultra slim bezel monitors. A kind of triptych arrangement with total dimensions of 102cm H x 174cm W x 14cm D. The work, which has been rendered in 4k Ultra High Definition (UHD), could be exhibited on any size screen, from a single monitor or television screen up to a substantial built-in video wall or projector.
Flow 8VO adds time and motion to my 2007 geometry, to create a durational kinetic artwork for screen display. The work is available to buy in a 4k UHD format, unwatermarked, from an edition of 4
About the Print Club
If you’d like to receive three or four exclusive new editions in the post each year, alongside personal news and views from the studio, and invitations to shows and fairs, please do consider becoming a member of my Experimental Print Club. You can join or leave the club at any time, with absolutely no obligation to stay any longer than you want to.
New works are sent out somewhat sporadically throughout the year, often in line with the changing seasons. Each piece is unique, exclusive, and only available on the day it’s editioned, the size of the edition being determined by the number of members on the day.
I hope the club presents a more personal and intriguing way to connect with the studio, by creating a platform for collecting engaging new works for your home. The club is hosted online here, and I send out fairly regular blog posts and emails about the work too. I’d like to think that it’s an interesting proposition!
Membership is currently priced at £36 per month inc. UK delivery, or £42 for an international address.
Associated works
