Until It Breaks

Naomi Oliver

Artwork Description:

The animated video piece 'Until it Breaks' is a statement on the fragility of digital existence and a metaphorical allusion to the precariousness and entropy of many aspects of human experience: such as relationships, physical bodies, material objects, and so on. A reminder of the ephemeral nature of existence. Thirteen original digital image files have been converted to audio files and then progressively altered (databent) using Audacity Software, until a file version eventually becomes unopenable/unusable. The discordant soundtrack to the progressive 'destruction' of each image is the original image's file, converted to an audio file, leading to sometimes surprising and unwieldy audio results. The nature of the sounds, at times cacophonous, resonate with the morphing glitch imagery and enhance the feeling of out-of-control obliteration that is unfolding quickly before the viewer's eyes, a shifting landscape of digital decay. With imagery and sound that mirrors the unpredictable nature of extremes of human experience, the unravelling and dissolution of form provides a somewhat cathartic release. Ultimately, this artwork is a meditation on impermanence.