A L E X  D E R B E N

The project has  been successfully completed.  The final video "Post humanity survival" was presented at the  10th International Festival Signes de Nuit on 14 Oct. 2012, 22h at  Cinema Action Christine, 4 Rue Christine, 75006 Paris. TV show at station Tele Bocal Paris.

Project description:

One minute lights is a time limited web art project.  It shows sureal virtual areas of light and sound, starting with animated or interactive images of the small town Cadaques in Catalonia. Play around in virtual rooms, see experimetal video sequenzes and listen to the electro acoustic compositions. You are invited to check out the possibilities and to look for the different impressions. During the period of one year this environment will constantly expand and change with new virtual rooms, videos and compositions. Date of completion will be the 01st of Aug. 2012.  The work is inspired by city lights and urban sounds. It is based on photo shots in the night. Very long exposure times were used in the photographic process. Field recordings were made at the same places on the following day. It is important, that there are only minimal manipulations to the material. Photo edits were made without any effect plugins and the sound was altered only using timestretching, pitchshifting and granular effects.

What means the the title „one minute lights“ ? The average exposure time of the photographs, during which changes to the camera settings were made, was up to one minute. Each music composition of an image takes a minute. You should also view every room for one minute or more.

Description Festival Video:

Post Humanity Survival (one minute lights)

4 O'clock in the morning, dark sky, streets empty - but in festive lights! The unique calm atmosphere of the night is presented as a deserted room, just as if someone had forgotten to turn off the lights before going to bed. The time is following a different, slower pace. In the apparently lifeless silence the lights of the city develop a life of its own, beyond its original purpose. As in an orchestra of infinite size reveals a finely tuned audiovisual interaction betweeen lanterns, lights and rhythmising traffic lights. An expensive concert, considering how many 10,000 volts is consumed only for a lone spectator. Nevertheless, the performance of a peaceful yet energetic world justifies the means, as it highlights the meaningless squandered energy so common in our consumption-society. The places visited follows a time line from south to north: Cadaques (Spain), Paris (France), Hannover and Bremen (Germany) and Oslo/Tinn (Norway) appearing chronoligically in four different sequences.