Esfuerzos aleatorios

The work “Random Efforts” consists of two parts. The first part consists of a black screen on which white lines are generated randomly, constructing faces in a schematic manner. After a second the screen restarts. The process is repeated four and a half times, and then the play abruptly cuts to its second part, which is simply a black screen.

Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development

The work “Random Efforts” follows an aesthetic of straight lines in black and white, inspired by the images “Vertical - Horizontal Number Three” (1964) and “Gaussian – Quadratic” (1963) created by A. Michael Noll. In this case it was chosen that the lines were white on a black background, seeking a brighter effect. The piece is divided into two parts, and in each of them the way in which it interacts with the viewer is radically different. In the first part, the stimulus is confusing and shocking. The eye tries to follow the unpredictable and rapid movement of the lines. Simultaneously, it seeks to read some expression in the faces that form, which is frustrated by the rapid restarts. The act of thinking is impossible during this first part. The vision fills, stuns, the viewer’s entire mind during the 4.5 seconds it lasts.

The second part is completely opposite. Nothing happens on the screen, everything happens in the viewer’s mind. The first part ends before he concludes his visual analysis. The feeling that is produced is that the animation could have continued repeating for an indeterminate, infinite time, but that it was cut or simply stopped playing. For the first time, the viewer reflects on what he saw, on the changing face. This may occur because the face is no longer shown. The viewer may want to continue looking at the evanescent lines. This desire can only exist because the lines are no longer there. The screen remains black, which allows the viewer to continue observing, if they wish, the image recorded on the retina. In any case, the most interesting processes that occur in the viewer’s mind only occur when the work has already finished. So it acquires value when it loses its materiality.

The work is never repeated identically, since it is generated at the moment by means of an algorithm. The only thing permanent is this algorithm. Each reproduction only exists for the few moments it lasts. This means that “Random Efforts” has a Happening or work component that is staged through instructions, even though these are instructions for a machine. This, together with the value it obtains from its dematerialization, transform it into a modern work in the sense that Nathalie Heinich describes in “The work beyond the object” (2014).

Finally, the perplexity that is sought with the abrupt stop of the animation makes the work go beyond its own length, exploring the limits of the audiovisual work as proposed by Jose Luis Brea in his “Brief -and disordered- antiglossary-or dictionary of topics-on electronic art” (2002).

Literature

HEINICH, Nathalie. ([2014], 2017). “La obra más allá del objeto” en El paradigma del arte contemporáneo: estructuras de una revolución artística. Madrid: Casimiro, pp. 95-119. (DAA: 39m)

BREA, José Luis. (2002). “Breve (y desordenado) antiglosario –o diccionario de tópicos- sobre el arte electrónico” en La era postmedia. Acción comunicativa, prácticas (post)artísticas