Using Projections

The sublime as an experience transcends all possible forms of depiction; however this unattainable goal has always been noted; Romantic painters depicted the motion of water, and used impressionistic strokes to capture the essence of the images in front of them, with realism coming second to imagination. The abstract expressionists took the approach towards the capturing of the sublime differently, making the painting itself the experience, with representation becoming completely abstract, the transcendent moment coming from the energy and power of the paintings themselves. Both however, as paintings, have no physical motion, although due to the quality of work feel as if they do, allowing the viewers imagination to construct narrative around the painting, rather than have the artist choreograph the experience.
The use of animation can control the experience more directly, which leads to the issue of whether or not this helps the work towards evoking the sublime. As a personal experience, assigning personal meaning would be more likely to achieve success, although it requires the viewer to dedicate themselves to the artwork. Animation can show movement and help the person make the speculative leap, involving them in the work. However this comes at the price of controlling the movement in front of the person, making the sublime depiction in front of them believable, rather than at the edges of the imagination. Through projections, the viewer can become more involved with the work, bonding them as a spectacle themselves, rather than as a passive observer. It allows the next step towards immersion from abstract expressionist painting, as they themselves stepped into the scenes the romantics depicted. Installations such as the work of James Turrell have already achieved this, using light as their material, and projections work in the same way; the projection itself is just light filtered in a more complex fashion.
It is the presentation of digital form in a physical format however that can provide the catalyst for the sublime, as a world which doesn’t exist can become evident and tangible for the viewer, who would ordinarily see images from a digital environment on a monitor in front of them. This contradictory element, of the invisible and intangible becoming the exact opposite, can wow the viewer by testing their understanding of technological structures. By projecting onto an entire environment rather than just on wall, the work becomes confrontational, leaping from the now usual cinematic layout of a large screen on a single wall, reaching towards the audience, manipulating and moving the floor, so the most concrete and dependable of elements, the ground on which a person stands, is claimed back by the work, removing the reliability of ordinary perception. When moving in its entirety, the whole environment can seem to crawl, bend and breathe, provoking awe by bringing inanimate objects to life. For this reason, the ideal vehicle to carry a digital piece of art aiming to evoke the sublime, is a projection based installation.