I've finished the build of the installation. It has been a very trying few weeks, however I'm more then happy with the outcome.
The structure is of such a large scale to simulate the idea of endless, open space, which I feel it has, within reason, achieved. While the room is a relatively small confine, there is enough space that when standing facing away from the walls, due to the curved surface the area opens up in front of the viewer. Any claustrophobic feeling is caused by the low ceiling, however it is minimal.
Despite being an open space, the projection does make the installation an uncomfortable setting; the constant buzzing of thousands of particles is unpleasant due to the influx of detailed, untraceable movement. Just as one number becomes clear it whizzes away, leaving no reference point. The projector’s beam is enlarged due to the dome mirror to the point where the pixels are visible, sized at roughly 1x 1cm. When viewed up close, the pixels form a stationary grid, where each individual one changes colours, much like a television set when viewed from a similar distance. However due to the size of the installation, this is not noticeable, and the overall viewing of the animation is unhindered.
The sensation amounts to a degree of contained wonder, partly because as light, it can be broken by the shadow of the viewer, and also because as a digital medium there is a subconscious narrative of it as fiction. To be genuinely enthralled by a digital work requires a suspension of disbelief. For this is the reason I have concluded that a digital piece cannot evoke the sublime as it occurs in the natural world; the threat is known not to be real.
There is no way of monitoring if the work is or is not sublime; as the piece applies to the individual, the experience cannot be generalized as a success or a failure. If one person out of one hundred feels emotionally moved and the other ninety nine do not, then the piece has succeeded in terms of the single individual, even if it has failed with the others.
I don't feel capable of judging the work myself; I have too much vested in it to be subjective, and as the creator I understand how it has worked.
What separates the experience from being directly sublime or depicting the sublime is that it aims to evoke other feelings which can collectively produce said feeling. It is a stimulant, a mediator rather than the emotion itself. The piece aims to cause frustration, exasperation, a degree of fear and above all, wonder; ingredients as separate emotions.
When exhibited, the animation and concept will be discussed, however the exact methodology will not be revealed as it is in this paper. The sublime as a total experience can only function through a lack of understanding and contemplation. If the viewer is aware of this methodology, then the animation and experience is conquered, it is no longer as mysterious, threatening or wild. While the lack of a complete explanation may frustrate, this is part of the experience and of the sublime in the traditional sense. Staring at the universe will not reveal its secrets.
To summarize simply, this experiment in evoking the sublime succeeds if the person feels irritation, frustration, trepidation and wonder. If it does not, then it fails. This proves somewhat exasperating, as I cannot prove or disprove if the piece evokes the sublime, however in taking on such lofty emotions and aiming to contain them within an installation, like with any piece which aims to induce emotion, it can never be universal. However I can say on a personal level that while I cannot find the work sublime myself, having manufactured the scenario, I can say that it fully reflects my own relationship with the sublime, and alongside the feeling itself, that is what I hope to convey to others.
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