Bitforms

The other day, I was trying to explain a mindblowing exhibit i saw at a gallery in the meatpacking district this past summer-- Daniel Rozin at Bitforms. we came across it totally by accident, when we were trying to visit a gallery in the same building. it was not only incredible to see, but lucky too, since it really affected/helped andreas out with thesis thoughts...




















So there's a picture of Joann and me. It was amazing to be interacting with his work, which all sensed a person and behaved like "smart" mirrors to give us feedback of our own presence.




















here's a shot of the mechanisms that went into making it work: the colors are created by rotating the position of a ring with a gradient on the outside. the motors would make these amazing insect-like sounds....














You can't really see in this picture, but this work with wooden pegs is incredible. the pegs are cut with a slanted edge, so that a slight ledge created shadows. by rotating the pegs, rozin could control lights and darks in the image as a whole. plus, they moved totally silently... so seeing them move was really surreal-creepy-beautiful.

Here's a photo from his site; maybe it explains things better:















I don't have too much time to write something out about rozin himself, but here's the copy-paste from bitforms:

Daniel Rozin (b. 1961, Jerusalem) creates interactive installations and sculptures that have the unique ability to change and respond to the presence of a viewer. Although computers are often used, they are seldom visible. Mirrors and mediated perception of the self are central themes in Rozin’s recent work. In most of his pieces the viewer takes part, actively and creatively, in the performance of his art.

Displayed at the gallery doorstep, Rozin’s Weave Mirror assembles 768 motorized and laminated C-shaped prints along the surface of a picture plane that texturally mimics a homespun basket. A seemingly organic smoky portrait comes in focus to the sound of clacking steps made by the sculpture’s moving parts. Informed by traditions of both textile design and new media, the Weave Mirror and paints a picture of viewers using a gradual rotation in greyscale value on each C-ring. A playful juxtaposition between the rustic and photographic, this sculpture is suspended from the ceiling. Its functional circuitry and wiring is visible behind the picture plane, exposing its genius craft.

Also exhibited for the first time, Rozin’s Peg Mirror comprises 650 circular wooden pieces that are cut on an angle. Casting shadows by twisting and rotating in unison, wooden pegs forming concentric circles surround a small central camera. The mirrored image produced in this work is activated by software authored by Rozin that processes video signals and breaks up imagery geometrically, seemingly pixel by pixel. The silently moving wood components in this piece flicker like jewels or coins in the spotlight, challenging our notions about what constitutes a “digital object”.

For more than a decade Rozin’s art has employed a wide range of materials including chrome spheres, flat wood panels, and city trash from the streets of New York. Software art that links screen-based performance with real-time video processing has been another focus of Rozin’s efforts since the mid-1990s. The Snow Mirror, which uses an artist-authored algorithm that floats site-specific visual imagery of the immediate past into the present, hovers in the gallery mid-air as a projection on silk fabric. Exhibiting for the first time in the United States, the Snow Mirror debuted at bitforms gallery in Seoul last year.