Der Wald

Dear Wald
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Der Wald
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Der Wald
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Dear Wald at Pixel Galéria, solo exhibition of Tamás Waliczky, Millenáris Park, Budapest 2005
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Der Wald at "Imaging Media. produced@zkm", ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, 2009
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"In the first version of "The forest", made as a computer animation, the image of the forest creates the impression of a three-dimensional space constructed from elements which themselves are only two-dimensional. The basis for the image is a black-and-white drawing of a bare tree. "The forest" can also be viewed as a long vertical composition running in an infinite sequence. This is the first of several lines of movement in the animation. Waliczky copied the two-dimensional drawing onto the surface of a number of transparent cylinders. When the cylinders begin to revolve, the camera appears to pan to the right or left. This is the second line of movements. The virtual camera is also mobile: it can move forwards or backwards along a circular path within the forest, thereby forming the third line of movement. The combination of the three lines makes it possible to produce movements running in every direction. With this structure, Waliczky alters the whole system of coordinates on which the representation of space depends. Whereas the three directions (x, y and z) normally correspond to straight vectors, Waliczky's system of coordinates employs curved lines that loop back on themselves. This evokes a sense of limitless space: the viewer feels that there is no way out of the forest extends in every direction. The resulting illusion is complete and deeply alarming: the infinity of gaze leads to a total loss of perspective."

Anna Szepesi, 1995