Isolation Portraits I-III

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At the start of April 2020, as cities around the world locked down in response to the Corona virus, I began asking people for images taken of themselves in isolation. My intention was to create a series of media archaeological portraits using scan processing and raster manipulation techniques from the 1970’s, realized with contemporary computer code, and rendered on a 1980’s vector video game display. Approximately 25 portraits were created in all, of which these are the first four.

Scan processing represents a crossover technique from early computer graphics in the 1960's to video synthesis in the 1970’s. Two famous scan processors are the Scanimate system and the Rutt/Etra video synthesizer used in the production of both commercial television graphics and works by artists such as Steina and Woody Vasulka, Gary Hill, and others. Similarly, Nam June Paik's Wobbulator demonstrated how the televised image can be manipulated by magnetic fields to reveal its absolutely artificial nature. As obsolete technology, scan processing represents the dreams, aspirations, and fears of the Cold War generation expressed through moving image. My approach to these portraits connects with the myriad selfie filters which members of the current generation use to express their own dreams, aspirations, and fears through social media.

I would like to thank Kristen Roos for his inspiration in this project, and the Kone Foundation of Finland for their support of its development through their Home Residency program.

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