White Point, Nova Scotia
"From either Cape North or Ingonish, get off the Cabot Trail in the direction of Neil's harbour (if coming from Ingonish), and, drive along the coast to White Point. Descending into town, but not to the docks, look for the "Two Tittles" Inn, and immediately to the right, you will find a dirt road that leads you 200m up a parking spot. Park and continue by foot, you will really enjoy this hike/stroll as a complement to a longer hike in the area (Peak at Tenor Reef or perhaps Meat Cove, or a paddle at White Point). "
"It has what seems to be classic alpine tundra and meadow that you'd see on a B.C. mountain peak, only you are 100 feet off the ocean floor where waves crash through sea stacks (towers of rock), and, the hills run one after another until you reach the grave of the unknown sailor. Above it, a white cross. Beyond it, several unreachable Islands of a small archipelago (The Tittles). Washed up sailors from ship-wrecks were buried here, in simple graves adorned by unmarked granite stones, which somehow fit perfectly with the natural setting." *
What does it mean when you see the rugged coast, slammed by the rising tide, but cannot hear the roar of the waves as they pour through the breakers and gurgle down into the dampened sand? Nor feel the salinated wind on your cheek - nor the smell of cut pine and wet moss - nor the awkward footing of the stones beneath your feet as you slide down the cliff to better see the surface of the stones?
A photograph is the translation of sight into a still image. What is it called when you capture the light of a place, then shine it upon somewhere new? Here the light from White Point has been captured, preserved, and used to illuminate a series of virtual spaces, including a spartan pavilion and an art gallery.
White Point itself is included in the exhibition, a 360 degree panorama of nine locations, nine times of day, and nine kinds of weather (mostly overcast).
* from trailpeak.com
Videogame Landscapes
Active/Idle
In Active/Idle Justin Berry is presenting three new pieces, one digital performance in the form of a projection, and two sculptural video pieces. The digital performance involves the artist playing the video game Skyrim in God-Mode and then walking away, allowing the game's idle animation to continue playing. Day and night pass by in virtual time, while a pair of wolves endlessly stalk and attack the player's avatar to no avail.
An idle animation is the animation that happens in a video game when the player ceases to play. It is usually an animation of the avatar doing something to show that they are bored, annoyed, frustrated, or impatient. One of the most famous idle animations is of Sonic the Hedgehog tapping his foot and staring at the player. Idle animations inevitably break through any sense of immersion that we might have in a game, reminding us that we are outside looking in at a fantasy world.
In the two video/sculptures presented in this show, Berry transforms idle and active animations into recurring Gifs, presented on older CRT monitors. One video shows Mega Man's pet dog endlessly laying about being bored, while the other shows Sonic, ever impatient to move, moving forever and ever in a dizzying loop. Both videos are visible through mirror/glass panels hovering above them, held in place with studio lighting equipment. The set-up is reminiscent of the traditional arcade box, though all of its mechanisms are left visible and exposed.
