Mirage (Mirror), 2020, single-channel video loop, artist’s frame
Inspired by Magritte’s painting and how the eye becomes the center of one’s reality, this piece becomes a new iteration of my Mirage video piece. First exhibited at MO_Space, the Mirage is a computer generated simulation of a patch of ocean at the center of a digitally manipulated surrounding. A mirage is an optical phenomenon where light is refracted by different densities of air in the environment. This results in like a body of water suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Mirages are usually seen in flat and broad landscapes like the open seas, deserts, and highways.
I changed the mirage’s texture to a chrome-like finish, reflecting the space and everything else it is surrounded with. The shift to a new digital reality made me question how we now live in this technology race. Has our reality become a false oasis? Has this oasis become the truth?
Mirage (MO_Space), 2020, Single-channel video loop, 7 min, 54 secs, Edition of 3
During the community quarantine implemented by the government, most activities of society had to shift to the digital realm. There has been a surge of digital content especially in social media – from memes, to intelligent discussions, rants, fake news, viral videos, etc.
I came up with this idea of a sense of hope amidst despair, somehow like a false oasis you see in a desert. A mirage is an illusion created by the refraction of light on a denser air within the environment. This phenomenon is usually seen in open horizons like open highways, plains, deserts and the open sea. As one would suppose, this optical phenomenon is transient, it only appears under certain conditions of the environment.
I produced Mirage as a way to make sense of this transition to a digital reality. Making up some sort of reality for oneself maybe is a way to cope with everything that’s happening. The floating figure is actually a patch of ocean generated and simulated by the program. I changed its texture to a mirror-like finish to reflect the space surrounding it, adapting to a reality it is situated in.
The Mirage is then placed inside my rendering of MO_Space, carefully following the measurements of the architecture and making it look as close as the real space with the help of photographic references. Though following the correct scale of the space, I omitted some details as I wanted to evoke a sense of hoax to the space I created.
Copyright © 2022. Miguel Lorenzo Uy