ALCHIMIA: a mysterious or inexplicable transmutation, a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation or combination.
In a universe where cameras have become a constant presence, wanted or not, our relationship with our own digital representation is often reduced to the selfie, prepared as if in front of a mirror, onto which we project a view of a "self" whose pose, lighting and expression we control absolutely and wish to share with others.
Alchimia seeks to heighten that relationship and bring it very much into the present, by focusing visually only on the observer's face, trying to keep that face always at the centre of attention regardless of its position in space relative to the system, while making sure that this position affects other parameters of the representation/transmutation.
Alchimia also explores our relationship with "the other": it transforms the observer's face, changes its expression and gender, puts masks on it, makes its features blurred, masculine, feminine, young, old, and calls for heightened expressiveness, a search for another "self" who will forget the composure of the selfie to explore so many other expressions and so many other possible "selves".
This search takes place to a hypnotic, tribal rhythm, deepening this inner process while stimulating the desire for growing bodily expression and dance, yet always keeping the focus on the face. Through interaction, the observer becomes absorbed in the transmutation, unaware of also becoming part of the performance, unique, unrepeatable, transformed.
Alchimia is a generative artwork developed in Processing 3.1.
Images taken from performances of the Alchimia installation.
