Field Notes From A Mine
Field Notes From A Mine visualizes a 6900 kilometer pilgrimage in Africa, from the southern Sudan to Marrakech, Morocco. The central focus for the work is the perspective of the traveler. Although this fictional character never appears in the picture, we follow his perceptions through images and sound that are generated by the computer from geographic coordinates. The result is an abstract documentary in which graphic elements alternate with more organic forms. Each time the traveler crosses a national border a new section of the film begins, announced by the coordinates of the location. One moment we seem to find ourselves in an underwater world, then the images are reminiscent of a desert landscape, and immediately thereafter change again, to a till more abstract form. Although the video focuses on the experience of the landscape, it was made at a great distance, in terms of both time and place. The completely digital environment is created on the basis of pilgrimages carried out between 1300 and 1900. The twenty-minute-long video contains no filmed images or recorded sound: everything has been composed and generated at a distance. Google maps and audio takes from the Africa Museum in Belgium served as a source of inspiration for the project.