Matter & Matrix

Matter and Matrix plays on physical/virtual and digital/analogue dichotomies by re-imagining a natural landscape with physical objects, data, and technology. Interactions between flat screen monitors and mirrors recreate the glitches and pixel collage landscapes of virtual maps like Google Earth. This five-channel video installation was recorded at three points of the Brisbane River, while the multi-screen installation overlays their assorted colour compositions of fresh and saltwater at varying degrees of pollution. Matter and Matrix draws from a quote by scientist Albert Szent-Györgyi on the qualities and embodiments of water:

 ‘Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water. Life could leave the ocean when it learned to grow a skin, a bag in which to take the water with it. We are still living in water, having water now inside’1

Matter and Matrix dislocates the footage into its coloured forms while reflecting, building, and collaging its natural qualities. The matrix of mirrors placed in a grid between the televisions at different scales copy, reflect, and ricochet the imagery around the installation. The natural crystalline forms of water flow and retract in a digital yet mirrored analogue landscape—driven by its own chance logic—water flows towards and away from itself in uncanny movements. This new illogical yet sublime water landscape underscores how our brains are wired to comprehend and navigate the innate simulated qualities of virtual maps.

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1. Szent-Györgyi, Albert. "Biology and Pathology of Water." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 14, no. 2 (1971): 239-249.