The invisible becomes more visible

The impetus for this interactive video project stens from the work of eco-hydrologist Jon Mensink. He researches all ‘invisible’ things beneath the earth’s surface on a daily basis together with his environmental advisory bureau. The tremendous volumes of data produced by this research would normally not be visible. But it’s certainly essential for the development of all things on the earth’s surface, from architecture to ecological conservation.

Visual artist Michiel van Bakel came upon the idea to visualise this normally invisible world below the surface. The slowness of geological processes is contrasted against the breakneck pace of the man-made digital infosphere.

A different way to experience of the Peel Boundary Fault

Michiel made a pinhole-scanner camera and combined it with pointclouds. The estranging recordings portray the cultural and natural landscapes in a different way. The interactive video combines the recordings of the pinhole-scanner camera with pointclouds. These surreal recordings enable the viewer to perceive the natural landscape in a different way.

As soon as someone walks past (sonar), the artwork begins to play. The logical build-up in the video is tied to the distance of the viewer to the screen. From forests and swamps above ground, the viewer travels down via the groundwater (wijst stream), coloured orange by iron, into deeper layers of the earth. Experience the free artworks there, that which were not made by human hands.