Timothy Thomasson

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Slow Track is a computer-generated video which restrains the limitless visual possibilities found in current computer animation technologies. With the intention of questioning the structural and aesthetic nature of the virtual image, Slow Track forgoes the excess, speed, surrealism, sci-fi, and fantasy commonly associated with computer-generated imagery. The work deploys a hyperrealistic, slow, gentle, and possibly mundane image which is wary of the software that produces it. The spotless, sterile virtual spaces commonly rendered in architectural visualizations are replaced here by spaces with dust, dirt, and clutter. Although rendered to approach photorealistic image quality, the images on screen have no real-world bearing. They are generated fully with a computer whose production amounts to thousands of silent ‘image files’.  There is no blowing wind, and the places depicted are nowhere in particular.

Rather than a CG image that seduces us with excess, this is one which asks for patience. On screen, the digital perspective slowly moves backwards, then forward, oscillating between two fixed positions while traversing newly emerging environments. Attention seems to linger on mundane objects: a scratched can, a bathroom stall, or leaves blowing in the wind. The animation unravels slowly. Things are left unexplained, and there is a focus on static or slowly moving frames. The sound in the work plays with the audio conventions associated with computer games, motion graphics, and advertisements—constantly reminding the viewer of the artificiality of these images.

Timothy Thomasson is a student member and a recipient of the Hexagram-ELEKTRA project call (2021). He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University.

About the Hexagram-Elektra Call for Projects

The partnership between the Hexagram Network and ELEKTRA aims to encourage exchanges between practice-based and academic communities. The ELEKTRA Gallery creates a space conducive to aesthetic and discursive research through digital artistic production. Consequently, this program values experimental or critical research-creation projects and supports the development of emerging artist members of the Network.

Cover image : ⒸTimothy Thomasson

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