Strata

The first version of Strata was created for an exhibition entitled Gowntown in Debenhams, Oxford during May 2002. The other artists in the exhibition were creating wall-mounted printed work by layering images and text, using either double exposure, multiple slides or computer. I wanted to create a work that echoed their creative process in real time, using the same raw source material. Arranged as a kind of triptych, a central evolving image is flanked by layering text on either side.

The sonic element of the piece was added subsequently for the HotWired new-media show in Banbury. Sound fragments were taken from various sources, including fragments of the hymn Autumn from Gavin Bryar’s The Sinking of the Titanic, plainchant and a variety of real world sounds. These sounds build up in layers, similarly to the images. Keeping true to the spirit of the visual element, the audio derives from fragments of pre-existing material. I was drawn to the Gavin Bryar’s piece, partly because it’s melancholic quality seemed to complement the existing visual elements, and also because it itself interpolates pre-existing material.

Strata was programmed using Macromedia Director. It is programmed in such a way that the process is independent of the material fragments, and has formed the basis of a number of other works including Invisible Cities with Helen Ganly. This concept also evolved into Trees of the Cherwell Valley, although this was reprogrammed to use my own Java based software.

Original imagery and text by Hugh Mooney, Rachel Carvosso and Jackie MacFarlane. Sounds taken from Gavin Bryars, mediaeval plainchant and real-world recordings.