第八定理 | THEOREM 8
– Hector Rodriguez 羅海德
[01-with VO explanation…02-single-channel]
Theorem 8 is originally a 3-channel video projection installation exploring the intersection of art and mathematics. It is made using a specially authored software that decomposes every frame in a movie using a fixed database of frames extracted from another movie. The project is based on the mathematical concept of orthogonal decomposition, used in many surveillance applications. Theorem 8, however, redeploys this surveillance technique for very different purposes, to “read” one movie in relation to a second movie. This project thus visualizes the abstract mathematical concept of orthgonal decomposition. The idea is to select a fixed set of frames from one movie and then allow every frame in another movie to make a shadow projection onto each of those frames. Every frame in the second movie is decomposed onto those various changing shadows. By mixing the different shadow projections, it is possible to achieve an approximate reconstruction of the current frame in the first movie.
With this mathematical technique, it achieves a superimposition of frames from two different films: Godard’s Alphaville and Witch’s Cradle, directed by Maya Deren. The two films were selected because their filmmakers used light and shadow as dramatic elements. Godard can be seen a response to the rise of cybernetics and information technologies. Deren and Duchamp were interested in abstract mathematical spaces. The title, Theorem 8, refers to the orthogonal decomposition theorem, which concerns the idea of an object in a higher-dimensional space projecting shadows onto a lower dimensional space.
Since technique of orthogonal decomposition are often used in surveillance software, the work aims to foreground, deconstruct, and liberate the computational aspects of surveillance technologies. Its underlying philosophy is that radical politics demands radical artistic forms. It also shows how surveillance method can be subverted as means of reading or decoding the cinematic tradition.
The research of Theorem 8 advanced from the artist’s previous research in works Gestus and Gestus: Judex (2010-2012), and Inflections (2010-2012).
Theorem 8 was orginally developed as a three-channel video installation, but it also exists in single-channel format, which can be screened with or without a short mathematical introduction, which is the version shown at WMC_e5.
《第八定理》是藝術家親自編寫的實驗性的錄像數據處理軟件，它藉由一套電影作為數據來源，分解另一套電影當中每「格」影像。軟件以「正交分解」的數學方法，把來自高達的《阿爾伐城》及瑪雅‧黛倫《女巫的搖籃》兩齣不同電影的影像重疊。「正交分解」的方法常見於監控用的軟件中。作品旨在凸顯和解構監控技術的程式計算的性質，其背後的哲學強調激進的藝術形式可帶動前瞻性的政治的思考。
Project web site
http://concept-script.com/theorem8/index.html
About Hector RODRIGUEZ
Hector Rodriguez (WMC Research Director) is an experimental software artist whose work investigates the specific possibilities of information technologies to reconfigure our experience of moving images and our relation to film history. His work integrates video art with mathematics and computer science, exploring the tension between digital abstraction and cinematic representation. His work has been shown at the Saatchi Gallery (London, UK), the National Science Museum (Seoul, South Korea), the Museum Friedericianum (Kassel, Germany), Siggraph Asia (Singapore), and the WRO Media Art Biennial (Wroclaw, Poland), among other venues. He was a jury selection of the Japan Media Art Award. His digital experimental animation Res Extensa won him the Best Digital Work Award in the Hong Kong Art Biennale 2003. He received Hong Kong Contemporary Art Award’s Achievement Award 2012 with his computational installation system Gestus. His theoretical writings have appeared in Screen, Cinema Journal, Game Studies and various anthologies. He currently teaches computer arts, film theory, and art/science at the School of Creative Media of the City University of Hong Kong. His work Gestus-Beta was premiered at WMC_e4 (2010). He also conducted a 12-hour workshop series on interactive fiction using Inform 7 at WMC_e2, 2007, among other educational events at the various WMC exhibitions.
羅海德，以香港為創作和學術基地的數位藝術家和理論家。研究方面，特別專注訊息科技如何重塑我們的活動影像經驗，以至我們對電影歷史的認知。創作方面，有志於錄像藝術、數學和電算科學的結合，去探索數碼抽象性與電影再現兩者之間的張力。他設計的遊戲系統《CoPerspective》於2006年度維也納Eurographics會議Games Meets Graphics比賽中入選決賽。他所撰寫關於電影理論、數碼藝術和遊戲硏究的文章曾於〈Screen〉、〈Cinema Journal〉及〈GameStudies〉中刊載。羅海德參與過多個大型藝術與科技會議，亦曾擔任香港微波國際新媒體藝術節藝術總監（2005, 2006）。他現為香港城市大學創意媒體學院副教授，主理當代視覺藝術、遊戲研究、電影理論、電腦程式設計和批判理論等學科；剛開創了亞洲區首個新媒體文理學士課程，於2012年9月開課，為該課程的主任。他的作品《Res Extensa》獲得2003年度「香港藝術雙年展」最佳數碼作品獎項。作品《GESTUS姿勢》令他成為香港當代藝術奬2012優秀藝術家獎得主。《姿勢 – Beta版》於文字機器創作集第四集（2010）首次發表。
