Title: Precession
Date Created: 2016
Medium: Installation, Wall Coverings
SPRING/BREAK Art Show ⌘COPY⌘PASTE Curated by Elizabeth Keithline, Precession is 3,000 square feet of “digital wallpaper” composed of algorithmically manipulated footage of New York City Visitors of SPRING/BREAK Art Show March 1-7, 2016, entered the fair through Precession, a site-specific lobby installation for which digital mixed media artist Anne Spalter shot and transformed high resolution footage of iconic New York imagery—specifically, the Manhattan skyline and Coney Island—into psychedelic, algorithmic kaleidoscopes digitally developed using proprietarily coded Adobe plugins. Covering the native curves, corners, and arches of the Beaux-Arts 34th Street Post Office Building’s stairwell were be nearly 200 custom wallpaper strips punctuated by 12 interspersed screens playing video works of the same algorithmic production technique. The cross-media content selection, which also includes 32 digital paintings printed on canvas, is arranged by the original footage’s time of day—adding an ombre transitional effect to the notions of speed, motion, and adrenaline evoked by the fact that the artist shot much of her first-person footage leaning out of a helicopter over the East River or from an in-motion amusement park ride at Coney Island.