whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir

Eve Sussman, Rufus Corporation, whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir, 2009-2011, two-channel digital cinema installation, dimensions variable, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2014.43, © 2011, Eve Sussman / Rufus Corporation

Artwork Details

Title
whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir
Artists
Rufus Corporation
Date
2009-2011
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
dimensions variable
Copyright
© 2011, Eve Sussman / Rufus Corporation
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
two-channel digital cinema installation
Classifications
Subjects
  • Architecture Interior — civic — theater
Object Number
2014.43
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2014.43

Artwork Description

The core of the Rufus Corporation’s “expedition to unravel utopian promise” would become this digital cinema installation whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoic. It is an experimental film composed from two screens: one reflecting the “movie” and one depicting the computer program behind the movie. In making the film, the collective traveled between Moscow and the Caspian Sea, compiling a cinematic record of the landscape, environment, and architecture while filming in local cafes, apartment blocks, and industrial plants. An audio/visual library comprised of 3,000 film clips, 80 voice-overs, and 150 pieces of music forms the basis of an improvised film noir.
A non-linear narrative unfolds through the observations and surveillance of the central protagonist, Holz, who finds himself living in a dystopian futuropolis. Further provoking cinematic form, the film’s presentation is edited in real time by a custom-programmed computer that Sussman has labeled the “serendipity machine.” The artwork is driven by key words that appear on the secondary screen and delivers a changing narrative that runs indefinitely, never playing the same sequence twice. The unexpected juxtapositions of voice, image, and sound create a sense of unyielding suspense that continuously divorces the protagonist from the full course of his own narrative.


Watch This!: Revelations in Media Art, 2015

Works by this artist (3 items)

Eric G. Scott, Brittany Fishing Village, n.d., etching, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chicago Society of Etchers, 1935.13.286
Brittany Fishing Village
Artist
Daten.d.
etching
Not on view
Eric G. Scott, Spring in the Midi, n.d., etching, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chicago Society of Etchers, 1935.13.288
Spring in the Midi
Artist
Daten.d.
etching
Not on view
Eric G. Scott, Chartres, 1893, etching, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chicago Society of Etchers, 1935.13.287
Chartres
Artist
Date1893
etching
Not on view

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