This two-channel video sculpture is based on the concept that dual vantage points can combine to enhance our view of reality. Nineteenth century stereographs achieved this with two slightly shifted still-images that combined in the mind of the viewer to give an illusion of three-dimensional space. In this piece, the two vantage points allow the viewer to see forward and backward simultaneously, thus implying a 360º panorama.
The subject’s apparatus consists of three sets of glasses from three generations of the artist’s family. Thus, the implication of seeing through time as well as in time adds to the concept of a hyper-reality. The “seeing devices” that the subject is using are security cameras mounted on the glasses. The low-resolution, distorted colors echo both surveillance videos and home movies.
The visual and auditory cues act in stereo to increase our synchronous view of the world. The video is gathered from the remote Point Bonita lighthouse at the Marin Headlands outside of San Francisco, and the audio is gathered from urban and industrial sources.
This project grows out of the Synergy Project, which was developed during an artist residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in 2007. Both Stereopsis and the Synergy Project rely on the interaction of two or more elements. Each uses complementary, incongruous visual and auditory clues, and each strives to immerse the viewer in a newly considered reality that investigates the relationship of the natural world and our technological infrastructure.