Chronovacuum 2009

Overview
Chronovacuum is a short single-channel video designed to be viewed on a small monitor or as a small wall projection. Subtitled "a project in involuntary archiving," Chronovacuum is a slideshow-style montage of webcam images that I have collected over the past three years from servers all over the world. I am fascinated by the fact that although there are now huge numbers of these webcams, their images are mostly auto-archived and rarely ever viewed by humans. Installed in mundane places, looking but not seeing, recording without witnessing, they typify the new datascape. Here is a world of ignored, instantly lost, accidental beauty.

Soundtrack
Chronovaccuum is accompanied by a digital soundtrack I created that reflects what I imagine is the sound of my connection to the live webcam, distorted by time and distance—the net equivalent of that "open line" sound you used to get on long-distance telephone calls.

Chronovacuum (video, 2:28 min.)

Exhibition
Chronovaccuum was included in the 2009 "Out of School" exhibition at the Brea Art Gallery, Brea, California.