The Motion Still Life series extends the artistic tradition of the picturesque and spatial object arrangement into the domain of the Internet. A live Web camera frames a physical still life scene with vase, flowers and still life objects. Aesthetic web controls allow the internet viewer from anywhere to adjust the composition telematically in the distant space of the artist’s studio. The Internet user is the surrogate artist. The time and space of the scene is ever-changing and accessible for the moment that becomes the still life. The sense of the progress of time emerges through the presence or absence of studio lights in the daily cycle of the artist’s home. A multi-colored light can be turned on and off by the user for night time or alternative illumination. For the duration of exhibitions “Motion Still Life 1” is on view and controllable live through its counterpart website. The mechanism is constructed from a self-contained network pan and tilt surveillance camera which has been disassembled and reconfigured for a more friendly gesture. Once an online visitor has configured the still life, a still can be captured and titled and saved to a gallery site.

Alternative Exhibition based installation version 2 (in Gallery)

While the Internet access to the still life places it at the axis of systems of virtual or telematic viewing and control, the physical installation can function as a sculptural performance installation in a gallery. At this vintage point the visible apparatus with the still life objects, displays the aesthetic presence and process of the still life. Exhibition visitors are able to see virtual participants configuring the still life through object movement, blinking LEDs connected with online activity, and surrounding lighting changes. Still life is meant to be seen as a mixture of visible and invisible events and contexts spanning several media, but now, in particular, overlapping the digital space of the Web. Remote ephemeral participants embody or inhabit the still life while they adjust its components.