Sydney artist Grant Stevens’ work explores the interface between digital technologies and the natural environment, focusing on the point at which the two blend to create moments of contemplation and speculation.
Using computer software created for the gaming industry and drawing on the plentiful visual representations of nature available online, his latest installation, The Forest, presented from June 25 at Sullivan+Strumpf Sydney, draws us into an idyllic alpine setting, with all of the hallmarks of a restorative screensaver.
An artificially intelligent camera roams the scene, from snowy mountains to towering conifers and flower-strewn meadows. Randomised by an algorithm, its tracking mechanism seeks to create an endless – and endlessly soothing – iteration. In the background, a soundscape of orchestral harmonies further lulls the viewer.
On closer scrutiny however one’s experience of The Forest becomes unsettling.
As the video unfolds in real time the viewer becomes aware of the perpetually arrested mid-afternoon shadows in the forest, the scene’s weather conditions unchanging. An overriding absence – of people, animals, action – adds to the unease. Occasional glitches in the imagery begin to catch the eye, and the ear wakens to subtle dissonances within the soundscape.
Neither cinematic nor climactic in intent, The Forest’s single camera is in perpetual motion, completely beyond the control of the viewer. The antithesis of a “real life” nature experience, it presents a random selection of viewpoints in endless play, from the majestic to the droll and inexplicable.
A timely interrogation into the tensions surrounding the integration of digital technology into everyday modern living, Stevens observes the digital experience as an “uneasy proxy for sensory immersion, often employed as therapeutic response to today’s cult of speed and hyperactivity”.
In The Forest it offers both peaceful refuge and an unsettling lament.
The Forest is exhibiting at Sullivan+Strumpf, 799 Elizabeth Street, Zetland, Sydney until July 18, 20220.
Out of towners and other online viewers can enjoy a five-minute preview of The Forest on Vimeo, and/or listen in to the artist in conversation with Natalya Hughes on the Sullivan+Strumpf Podcast.
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