Cat’s Cradle, A New Video Art Collab with Adam Void
August 2017
Cat’s Cradle is a new Video Art collaboration between artists Adam Void & Ryan Seslow. Cat’s Cradle is the 4th piece in an ongoing series of experimental Video & New Media art works created by the artists. Both artists have mutual friends and roots in graffiti and street art but connected via the internet.
The ongoing process applied in Cat’s Cradle follows a pass the buck arrangement using video, editing software and various internet tools. By using a shared dropbox cloud folder the artists wait for each other to complete a video segment and then work off of the last extension of the piece based on their own interpretations. They can both alter, chop, manipulate recompose and re-arrange each other’s work. This gives them both the option to see their own works edited through the eyes of another artist. They can tell the story, be the storyteller’s audience and also choose to disrupt or harmonize the continuum. Both artists have learned a lot about how their works can be viewed and perceived through this process.
Cat’s Cradle puts an emphasis on a fragmented series of both quick flashing still images and motion graphics. We see several animated characters both familiar and unknown mixed with character’s participating in the childhood game of Cat’s Cradle. The game itself is an endless series of variation. By stringing and re-stringing a rope or string through one’s hands while seamlessly passing it on to another person or back for the self. Repetition and pattern becomes a focal point of the video as the fragments appear and reappear in slight and drastic variation. A series of still hand gestures also fade in and out suggesting that the gestures are communicating much like sign language would. A droning audio track of textures and a child’s voice plays throughout the piece as the characters and sequences never actually complete the game, but continue to exhaust the duration.
“After completing 4 pieces over the last 4 years I feel that this method of creating and generating the works is attractive, exciting and compelling. I’m constantly forced to see and react to contrasts. My focus is never on the outcome but channeling the feeling of anticipation as I wait for the next segment. Being in that space fuels my reactions and next decisions. I enjoy being the viewer just as much as being the creator.” – Ryan Seslow
“One is never certain of the final outcome when an artwork is produced through collaboration. Virtuous Reality, our first piece in 2014 was created without a preconceived theme, title, or running time. Each artist was inspired by the previous incarnation of the video, added their piece, rearranged the parts, and in turn, produced a new film at each step of the process. I am pleasantly surprised by the video series outcome, and hope that the final products stand as a testament to the process by which it was made.” – A.Void
*Previous works can be viewed below as this piece features the first three individual videos as a three channel arrangement with animated gifs.
View this arrangement on newhive here.
View Cat’s Cradle on newhive here.
