Empire (2010)
10-minutes, 4-Channel 3D Animation Installation with live performance.
Empire features a four-screen continuous surround animation of a virtual monument running the "course of empire." It is inspired by the 1836 series of paintings by the Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole's series. Empire slowly decays and molds as it transits from sunrise to sunset. Its visual source is a cenotaph drawn by Étienne-Louis Boullée, the 18th-century French visionary architect. It slowly decays and morphs from pink to blue, from sunrise to sunset. Camera motion is a slow zoom, direction z. The installation included a performance featuring the composer Ella Buckley. Hart commissioned Buckley to create music for the animation, which also serves as the basis for a live improvisatory “performance object,” on view during the installation opening. Buckley wore a dress designed by Kristin Mariani Frieman, made from plastic screen material. A rose was projected on Buckley who wore as jewelry a small electronic instrument of her own design. She performed for 10 minutes by stroking her body and rubbing her legs together.
