Gray Area presents the West Coast debut of Bosphorus and Black Sea, two kinetic data sculptures by artist Refik Anadol. The artist uses the data that flows around us as his primary material, creating dynamic visualizations that dramatically rethink the physical world. Using high frequency radar collections of the Black Sea, both audiovisual works aim to highlight the symbiotic interplay of technology, art, and nature in relation to humanity’s quest to push the limits of possibility.

Bosphorus

BOSPHORUS is a kinetic data sculpture that draws inspiration from nature with an attempt to question our capacity as humans to re-imagine natural occurrences in spaces where these occurrences are transformed into architectural and audio-visual experiences. Using high frequency radar collections of the Black Sea, provided by the Turkish State Meteorological Service, The transformation of this sea surface data collection then becomes not just a means of visualizing information, but rather a transmutation of our desire for experience into a poetic visual.

Black Sea

The relationship between simulation, reality, and the quest for understanding nature is a reflexive one. In the stories we tell, we continually construct worlds that offer meditations on our identity while simultaneously becoming a part of nature itself. As Philip K. Dick says, “Reality is that which doesn’t go away when you stop believing in it. A simulation is that which doesn’t stop when the stories go away. Stories are responsible to our human desire for resolution, but simulation is responsible only to its own laws and initializing conditions. A simulation has no moral, prejudice, or meaning. Like nature, it just is.”

It is precisely this organic interaction between simulation, systemic reflection and nature that our kinetic data sculpture BLACK SEA explores. Using high frequency radar collections of the Black Sea, this piece aims to highlight the symbiotic interplay of technology, art, and nature in relation to humanity’s quest to push the limits of possibility. Our modes of representation and intellectual inquiry become a part of our natural world, reflecting and augmenting our perceptions of reality. In our quest for resolution, stories offer us a simulated environment that is in fact just as experiential as nature itself.