FIELD OF VIEW
part of the MAE- Motion Aftereffect series
Video | Motion Capture | Performance:
Freya Björg Olafson
Sound: Emma Hendrix
Text - Manifest.AR collective’s 2011 ‘The AR Art Manifesto’
Costume: Wanda Farian
4k video | 11m55s
Installation / screening / live performance
__________
2021 single channel video available for distribution
2019 performance premiere
A web camera feed is manipulated through the software ‘Unity’ to create an effect that freezes video frames and continuously prints new frames atop the previous; resulting in painting trails of movement. This painting effect is a reference to both Brody Condon’s video game work ‘Adam Killer’ (1999) and a common Windows XP (2001 – 2008) system error that would generate the same trail effect using the computer’s search windows and cursors as a paintbrush. The formal composition of 'Field of View' references the primary colors that became a signature of the Bauhaus Movement; as well as the work of Bauhaus-associated artist Oskar Schlemmer, who augmented and extended the human form through sculptural costumes and formal choreographic explorations of space and time. Manifest.AR collective’s 2011 ‘The AR Art Manifesto’ is quoted throughout the video work which combines live performance, motion capture, 3d renderings of Freya Björg Olafson, and audio by Emma Hendrix. 'Field of View' concludes with an overlay of the Windows XP 2000s ‘Solitaire’ computer game-ending which visualizes each stack of cards falling to the bottom of the screen - creating the same digital painting trails before sliding off-screen.
This work is an excerpt of a larger body of work called ‘MÆ-Motion Aftereffect’ which premiered in 2019 and in 2021 ‘MÆ’ was longlisted for the ‘Lumen Prize: The Award for Art and Technology’ in the category of 'BCS Immersive Environment Award'. ‘Field of View’ can be either screened as a single-channel video, performed live online via webcamera, or performed live on a stage with live audience.
Contact Freya for the password to view the work online
Distributed by: VIDEO POOL MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Freya acknowledges the generous support of Canada Council for the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council, Winnipeg Arts Council; the AR/VR Artist Research Residency Pilot organized by Oregon Story Board, Eyebeam and Upfor Gallery in Portland as well as the 13th Annual Montréal Choreographic Workshop. In 2017 this work was developed through the CounterPulse (San Francisco) ‘Artist Residency Commissioning Program’ with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and the Ken Hempel Fund for the Arts. In 2018 the work was developed through a residency at Oboro in Montréal as well as Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg in 2019.
Screening History - work in process
February 2026 Mois Multi Festival / Recto-Verso - Quebec City
January 2026 Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers - Winnipeg, MAnitoba
June 2025 OFFTA Festival - Montreal, Quebec
May 2025 DARC - Digital Arts Resource Center - Ottawa, Ontario
November 2024 Boreal Screendance Festival - Akureyri, Iceland
October 2024 WNDX Festival of Moving Images - Winnipeg
Jan 2023 New Media Caucus & Header/Footer Gallery exhibition by game still photos from ‘Field of View - online
October 2022 Currents New Media exhibition - New Mexico
December 2022 Manufacturing Entertainment / Vucavu.ca screening of ‘Field of View’ - online
October 2022 Video Pool Media Arts Center outdoor screening of ‘Field of View’ - October 2022 Winnipeg
March 2022 the wrong biennale - pavilion "home /body>' hosted by net art gallery Public Access Memories created by Jenna deBoisBlanc - online
October 2021 Cairo Video Festival - Cairo, Egypt
Oct 30 - Nov 3rd 2019 Prairie Theatre Exchange
(Olafson and Lise McMillan performed this work live with a web camera on stage as part of the work MÆ - Motion Aftereffect).