Torrent, 2007
Edrex Fontanilla, Robert Goldschmidt
wood, video
Torrent is a video art installation that fuses digitally-generated imagery, manipulated video,
and wood sculpture. Torrent integrates organic phenomena with formalist approaches to explore fragmentation
and fluidity, and to challenge our notions of logical and natural boundaries.
Torrent also explores the tensions and harmonies between the digital projection and the physical sculpture. At times the digital can extend and even reinvent the physical. Sometimes the digital can reorganize and even fracture the physical.
• Technical Specifications
The sculptural footprint occupies a 95” tall,
48” wide, and 24” deep area. It will have an articulated surface on
which differently sized squares are
float-mounted. Each square is
formed with beveled maple core. The front face of the squares is laminated with
quilted maple veneer, providing a dimensioned, pearlescent surface.
The sculpture will need to be fastened to a wall. The projector will most likely need to be mounted between 8 and 15 feet from the surface of the sculpture. The height of the ceilings will influence the angle and distance of the projection. Ideally, the projector will be about 10 feet high and 8 feet from the wall, or 8 feet high and 10 feet from the wall. The higher the projector is mounted, the closer people may view the sculpture without blocking the projection from reaching the surface of the sculpture.
• Collaborative process
Beginning with the video artpiece, “Overlooked,” in 2005, Edrex Fontanilla and Robert Goldschmidt have collaborated on
new media art projects that explore materiality, continuity, and the limits and assumptions of viewers’ perceptions. Creating
sculptures, digital prints, and interactive installations, Edrex and Robert couple formalist approaches in artmaking with applications
of theories in cognitive and neuroscience.
Their methods incorporate a broad range of authoring strategies to produce creative works that hybridize physical and virtual space. In many of their collaborative projects, the viewer is encouraged to consider the physicality of the digitally-generated image as it intermeshes with physical materials.
Installation Photo
Close Up #1
Close Up #2
Front View Diagram
Side View Diagram
Video Excerpt