The Flows, an exhibition
The Flows is based in the philosophical idea of the “eternal return” – the notion that history endlessly renews itself through a process of decadence, decay and rebirth. To embody this, Hart molded mathematical cycles into visual form, into a surfeit of patterns and signage coming together as animated wallpaper. The Flows is an architectural flicker film defined by rhythmic animations of pulsing patterns that are mesmerizing and intentionally hypnotic as a result of their algorithmic qualities.
Hart’s brightly colored, algorithmic flickering patterns are the ultimate component of her contemplation on the passage of time and the death of kings. The animated patterns are also based on the symbols of further collapsed empires - from the Faberge eggs of The House of Romanov to the banners and heraldry of Gengis Kahn and the Mongol Empire. Distributed among these are the current logos and graphical icons of our own multinationals, corporations and tech giants. These are combined with short aphorisms written by Hart, evoking pulsing electronic signage and abstract digital “noise” animations that eb and flow organically
The end result is in some ways like a stroll through Times Square or a glitzy night in Vegas – but it is also paradoxically and strangely trance inducing and meditative, a vehicle for some kind of enlightenment.
Hart’s wallpaper animations also include architectural imagery of an abstract computer warehouse filled with old dollhouses culled from the junk heap of some future history. She scoured Google’s 3D Warehouse – available as shareware for all users of the Internet – for architectural monuments from a decadent history, past empires from all over the world. These include The Arch of Labna (a Mesoamerican archaeological site and ceremonial center of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization), the Roman Forum-of-Caesar, Marie-Antoinette’s Le Petit Trianon (the small chateau on the grounds of Louis XIV’s Versaille, where she dressed as a milkmaid with her ladies-in- waiting), a Queen Anne House from Victorian England; the Dragomir Mansion from Bucharest; and the Paulwall House - still standing in our own ruined Detroit.
The music for The Flows was composed by the media artist and digital composer Kurt Hentschlaeger.