In an environment when we are told to pause, wait for election results, and stay in place for a vaccine, this piece explores the physical and virtual spaces we embody while waiting. Combining black and white 35mm scans taken in a pre-covid New York with various systems of communication, time itself becomes a scrolling feed, simultaneously frozen and constantly in motion. Layering representations of time and space this piece examines the dissonance that envelops the liminal states we embody both virtually and physically.
Background
Anticipation is imbued throughout the analogue photography process. From the moment the film is loaded into the camera to the development and printing process, waiting time is embedded in each step of the process. Utilizing this as a key element of the analogue photography medium, these photographic scans serve as the background of this experience, setting a stage for the physical spaces of waiting.
Text
From definitions to poetic representation of code, the text utilized in this piece interrogates the structures that delineate and shape our experiences of waiting. Bringing these element, which are often hidden and unacknowledged, to the foreground is an attempt to destabilize and evoke the unease that we feel with the very concept of waiting.
Scroll
The key method of interactivity in this piece is the utilization of scrolling, an act that is central to our virtual lives. This physical control over our experience of time and information is central to the interactive web. In this piece elements move at different speeds in relation to the background, destabilizing and slowing the physical act of scrolling.
Audio
In addition to scrolling, audio here can be played at different times and even layered. The audio utilized here is to give the user a sense of time and place. Utilizing field recordings, news clips, and music the user can create their own auditory environment. Placing audio at different part of the page facilitates a connection between the act of listening with the act of scrolling, two experiences that are rarely connected in our virtual environments.
Gifs
Gifs are utilized in this piece to evoke the virtual environments of waiting. Whether it's the bejeweled environment of candy crush or the twitter load screen, these looping animations conjure familiar virtual environment while disturbing their ubiquity. Looping continuously, these gifs create a dissonance with the static background images the appear over.
These elements together seek to create a dissonant environment that explores the structures and environments of waiting.