Unstill Life

2K, 25 fps
2.05 min, loop
2014

Art direction, design: Zeitguised and Marian Pramberger
Animation, imaging: Marian Pramberger with Julius Steinhauser
Sound: Michael Fakesch

Unstill Life deconstructs high-definition photorealism. With the means of simulated photography it builds an entirely artificial slice-of-life world from geometries, textures and digitally modelled lighting. Instead of dwelling on the artificial looks of computer-generated imagery, the deconstruction creeps into the experience of the image through abstract camera moves, like those of 3D editing. The notion of an omnipotent human editor of the landscape culminates in shifts of the seemingly solid buildings and the apparently natural surroundings.

One trait of synthetic photorealism is the free point of view, no longer bound to the physics of a camera. Which point of view does the maker of a scene take, if anything is possible? One answer is given here: all of them at once. The hierarchy between them is erased, the weight of the single shot shifts to the movement between shots, and the piece exploits that aesthetically.

It is also a nod to the ubiquity of digital photography, where the single image loses its significance. The sequence of shots becomes a mood board, a fleeting experience that leaves a dense impression of the place in the viewer's mind. In analogue photography the viewer's imagination filled in what the single shot hid; here the emphasis lies on gathering an encyclopaedic view of the place, to explore its boundaries and widen a space of possibilities.

As simulation co-evolves with rich databases of objects, textures and motions, such images will become an everyday commodity. The film can be read as a precursor to real-time experiences in which imagination and observation can no longer be told apart: a playful take on the end of trust in the image as a document of reality, on the re-evaluation of play itself, and on escapism as a valid construction of personal freedom.