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Amnon Owed - Eternalism

4:30, 2011, Experimental
 
Eternalism is a philosophical view on reality that proposes time is just another dimension. As opposed to the view of the world as a three-dimensional space modulated by the passage of time. An interesting facet of eternalism is that it implies future events are “already there” and as such that there is no objective flow of time. One can argue about the truth of such a theory in the real world. With regard to the world of film, it is most certainly true. When the viewer starts the film, the ending is already there. So the perceived spatial dimension and the perceived temporal dimension, are truly equal. This creates the possibility to view everything in a non-conventional way.

In this film, mesmerizing visuals, coupled with contemplative music, allow the viewer for a brief moment to enter into a state of trance. While the mind searches for patterns, it initially finds a colorful chaos of subtle movements. Despite the distance from everyday imagery, there is still something faintly familiar about it. The water, the waves, the ocean. These become clear in the next part. A segment much calmer, free from visual disturbances. More focused, both in color and movement. The final segment brings order and chaos together, conveying an imperial quality, a weight. It shows the power and beauty of nature, except it does so in a way that goes beyond our usual, limited perception of reality. It ends with blackness, to give the viewer some time to reflect. The film Eternalism is a unique, hypnotic and at times beautiful work of admiration for the world that surrounds us.

The main technique applied in this project is known as slit-scanning. There are different variations of this technique. Here, instead of moving through time, the viewer moves through space. A digital rearrangement of pixels, the result of a little creative coding. In fact, this project is the first - and at this time the only released - of several time bending visual experiments. It was created with open-source software as well as video and audio source material released under the creative commons license. In that same spirit, the source code of the whole project was in turn released to the general public.

The visuals were created with Processing. Increasingly used by students, artists, designers and researchers all around the world, Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to create images, animations, and interactions. It was initiated by Ben Fry and Casey Reas, building upon their work at MIT’s Aesthetics and Computation Group.

The music track Meditation is, as it’s name may suggest, a meditation on the beauty of nature. It was written and performed by Lena Selyanina, who is currently living and working in Finland. She started to play piano at the age of five and received her musical education at the Russian Saratov Conservatory. Her solo piano pieces as well as several ambient albums - produced in co-operation with Finnish producer Doc - are released under the creative commons license.

As a final remark it is good to note the creative environment in which this project came about. Namely in a context of visual experimentation and autodidactic development. Each project is a creative and technical challenge, for which the starting point is a lack of knowledge of a certain subject. Every project is therefore first and foremost a learning process and second a stimulans for personal creative development.

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* This description is loosely based on the blog post that can be found here: http://amnonp5.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/eternalism-the-art-of-slitscanning/
DirectorAmnon OwedCrewLena Selyanina (music)
 

CountryNetherlandsEdition2011
 

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