Qi

5:00 minutes, HD video with stereo sound, animation by Rachel Clarke, music composed by Stephen Blumberg

Qi was created in response to my first visit to China -- the images and sounds, and the emotions that are evoked in the piece relate to my experiences. China is full of contradictions and cultural complexity. In this piece, I represent my inability to grasp this place of cataclysmic change as an impossible architecture that continuously builds, resolves, then falls apart. The imagery is disrupted by the digital interference of datamoshing and bending. At some points there is a chaos of visual stimuli -- overwhelming or unsettling -- and at others a sense of wonder. The piece ends with prayer flags, captured at an ancient Tibetan Buddhist/Taoist temple in northwest China, symbolizing the enduring expression of ancient culture in the midst of contemporary upheaval.