Jornadas Lúcidas # 2 - Addictive Light

Slides de Cavalete, Ângelo de Sousa

One hundred 35 mm slides, color, 1978-79

Nobody Here, Daniel Lopatin 

Track from the DVD-R - Memory Vague 

color, sound, 2'05'', 2009

Although television has dropped to unprecedented levels of quality, we can all agree that it is impossible to shut or even extinguish the channel. Humans are addicted to the continuous flow of RGB light, regardless its content. A clear sign of this addiction is the recent shift from incandescent light to LED in public and private lighting around the world. Soon the planet will be fully led by Red Green Blue frequencies which, like television, will draw humanity into new levels of dependence and isolation.

In 1979, after winning the first prize at the Venice Biennale, Ângelo de Sousa was invited by the artist Floris M. Neusüss to participate in a traveling art exhibition. The participants were chosen for their conceptual use of photography. Ângelo decided to present an automated sequence of slides whose composition and color was created through the superimposition of Red, Green and Blue filters. According to the artist, the piece "Slides de Cavalete" [Easel Slides] was much like his other geometrical paintings, but instead of paint, it used the same additive light process television does. The contrast between the slideshow and the other pieces in the exhibition could not have been greater. Despite its degree of sophistication the curator was always reluctant to present the diaporama and left it isolated outside the main showroom, most likely for fear of cross-contaminating the black and white photographs with television frequencies.  

In this Oporto special session, Jornadas Lúcidas #2, we will present the infamous piece "Slides de Cavalete", with a newly restored set of slides. This automatic light painting will be projected along the video "Nobody Here", an "earworm" created by Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) mashing a youtube sequence from a jurassic videogame (Taito's Laser Grand Prix) and a looped sound clip from Lady in Red by Chris De Burgh. This ever moving rainbow road is here to remind us that TV will continue its image stream regardless of human presence.

Oporto would like to thank:  Miguel Sousa and the Estate of Ângelo de Sousa, Sérgio Mah, Joana Silva and the Conservation Department of Nova University, Lisbon  -  Daniel Lopatin, Eliza Ryan, Nelson Gomes, Software and Warp Records