Venice Streetworks 2007 (Venice Palazzos)

During Summer 2007 a series of Streetworks were 'installed' in Venice. These were even more momentary than usual because they comprised images of thirteen Venetian Palaces from along the Grand Canal that were projected onto canal surfaces late at night. The projection system comprised a laptop, LCD projector, and digital camera to record the projected images. A car battery powered this simple system. Four projections were recorded around midnight on June 13, 29, and July 13 and 21. When the images of the Palaces from the Grand Canal were projected onto canals around Venice the images 'sank.' Because water is denser than air, when light enters it some is reflected and some is absorbed-I was interested in the extent to which the images of the Palaces would be soaked up by the water from the canals and how much they would 'resist.' Because of the limited light late at night a long exposure was necessary to photograph the images. Sometimes small materials floated through the image and reflected stronger image bits, and on occasion when a boat passed through the image the water was disturbed creating lyrical light lines and patterns that were reflected and recorded. No visual effects or image manipulation was done to the digital prints-they appear as recorded.

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