The water & light installation TECHNOCENE comprises illuminated tubes piercing through the water's surface in an organic composition creating arrow-shaped reflections that move with the spectator’s perspective. Reminiscent of a dystopian retro-futuristic movie scenery, the sculpture attempts to strike an aesthetic yet uncanny feeling – enhanced by abstract soundscapes (distributed by four audio speakers).
With TECHNOCENE [τέχνη = téchne = “art, skill” / καινός = kainós = “new” > suffix ‘-cene’ = “epoch”] we portray a hypothetical future where technology is autarchic and has become the artist itself, where nature has been reimagined and replaced by its abstraction. Yet anything alive, any creation, any civilization undergoes the cycle of life. Every rise is followed by a fall is followed by a rise – history has long proven its cyclical structure. Every epoch dreams the one to follow.
TECHNOCENE’s light effects undergo a looped sequence following the narrative arc of a five-act dramatic structure – illustrating the rise and fall of technology’s reign. In addition to manifold animations, the various acts are underlined by the use of different color families. Every mode smoothly merges into the next, including the end & start of each cycle.
Act 1 – BIRTH / COOL WHITE: fade in, soft pulses, sprouts growing
Act 2 – LIFE / AQUA: organic movements, gentle waves, breathing
Act 3 – DISTURBANCE / PURPLE: glitches, irregularity, alarmed panic
Act 4 – WAR / RED: aggressive strobe, organised robotic army
Act 5 – DEATH / WARM WHITE: malfunction, flickering, fade out
Next to the installation there are four marked spots on the ground for the visitor(s) to stand on. These trigger the interactive component: the closest tubes begin to react and switch to the following act (a different animation in a different color) – as if alarmed by the intrudor’s presence – while the rest of the artwork stays in the mode it is in.
WEST SECTION OF CANAL #1: roughly 50 tubes (held by an underwater steel framework) are placed in the canal water, near North Goldwater Blvd where the Arizona Canal Trail turns into a small beach – for visitors to walk down to the water and observe the artwork at eye level – with four interactive spots along the canal bank.
MARSHALL WAY BRIDGE #7: 30 (or more) tubes inside a pool placed in the bridge’s center between the columns – for visitors to walk around the artwork and observe it from all directions – with four interactive spots on opposing sides.
