CARBON 1
CARBON 1 deploys an algorithmically mediated lens, symbolized as “pixels” or pixelated noise. Each pixel is sourced from my analog “Distortions” collages. Inspired by Len Lye’s early cinematic techniques of filmic collage, the two-minute film presents a layered landscape. The film begins with a fictional future landscape featuring my Slipstream and WIDOW sculptures (the symbolically charred spawn of the original Slipstream installations), layered with footage of live oaks and Spanish moss, petroleum plants, swamps, animal skins (elephant, leopard, snake, and frog), and other ecological features, including AI-generated footage of plastic botanical elements. In the distance, viewers glimpse brightly colored plumes of fire. As we advance through the landscape, a petroleum plant is visible underwater. Additional “pixels” appear, distracting from and distorting what they hide. Their colors reflect much of what is pictured, contributing to a growing confusion and conflation of vision/perception. Viewers experience almost full occlusion in the end by monochromatic, pixelated “noise,” a complete erasure of the natural ecosystem in service of algorithmic distraction and data processing.
Artist: Nancy Baker Cahill
Director: Nancy Baker Cahill
VFX: Nancy Baker Cahill and Local Formations
Sound Design: Anna Luisa Petrisko
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