Ren Gregorcic. At the point of a singular horizon. M16 Artspace. Until April 4.
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This modest exhibition features a new body of video and image-based work by artist and researcher Ren Gregorcic "interrogating the interface of digitally mediated expressions of structurally mediated environments".
Modest only in the sense that it comprises just a 2:33 minutes video, two digital prints of texture map images - and a catalogue. Not ordinary, unimposing or, for that matter, inexpensive - although much less costly than was recently achieved with a non-fungible token (NFT), another form of digital asset.
Gregorcic is an artist working in the field of sculpture and spatial practice. He explores how various mechanisms are expressed in architecture, infrastructure, urban planning and nature-management.
He often combines artistic, philosophic and social research to produce creative outputs.
Here, Gregorcic explores a 3D reconstruction of a garden plot within an internal concrete courtyard of a converted high school building in Canberra. He uses photogrammetry, a computational method that constructs 3D digital geometry from photographic data. The 3D rendering produced the video, showing a simulated light source passing across the surface of the digital object at different angles.
The texture maps (images that are applied to surfaces of 3D models to give them colour and detail) are also outcomes of the photogrammetric process.
From a top-down view, the digital reconstruction seems complete and cohesive; from other angles, it appears distorted and broken. This structural/aesthetic quality is a result of the software used seeking to make a complete object from incomplete data.
Reference photographs used to produce the digital reconstruction were taken at sunset, fixing native shadows onto the 3D object's surface.
In the video work, a light source simulating the sun moving across the sky has been used to illuminate the digital object.
This produced subtle moments where the fixed and projected shadows overlap as the garden plot fades in and out of view.
Despite the few works on display, this is an exhibition worthy of your time, studying the texture maps closely and watching the video again and again, properly taking everything in.
In the video, I found I was viewing collages, assembled by the digital processes. Gaps appeared at times, seemingly placing irregularly shaped black holes amongst the green leaves, weeds, rocks and much more. Watching it was a seductive experience.
An excellent catalogue essay by Eryk Salvaggio (an artist and researcher from the USA) describes the body of work as "A total portrait without omissions".
That is an interesting concept to consider. How difficult it would be to create such a portrait of a person. How could we reveal absolutely everything about any one person in a portrait?
It would need to be a complex portrait combining many images. Even then it is difficult to imagine there being nothing about the subject that was not revealed.
I recalled reading an article with the same "total portrait without omissions" title years ago. The author, who had been struggling with editing images for a book, wrote about how she could structure text in her head, seeing it somewhat like a 3D form, but struggled to do the same with imagery for a book. That resonates with me.
Salvaggio also writes "The once theoretical concept of a life lived through screens moved from cyberpunk fiction to lived experience for much of the world in 2020".
Those of us who have immersed ourselves in Zoom and similar systems all know what he is saying. Just one more thought to consider whilst viewing Gregorcic's video in this intriguing show.
