Four Vignettes was the first successful prototype for Kyle’s latest film‐based installation Circles of Confusion. Four everyday scenes are presented as sequential images and sound and in this system and scratch‐built opto‐theremin generates the audio, synthesizing real‐time audio twenty four times per second. Rather than creating images from a pre‐determined script, the interaction become less about interpreting images and more about recording them. In practice it is not content that drives form, but process that breeds content. In this instance, the movie is a product, both visually and aurally, of an entirely analog electro‐chemical reaction. Self‐reflexive in its content and formal elements the celluloid object simultaneously becomes an ephemeral record and extra sensorial representation of lived experience. A phenomenal deception that is less about interpreting images as it is about collaborating with a particular urban or natural environment – a purely mechanical representation of the external world.
Artist Biography
Kyle Whitehead is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with small‐format cinema, alternative photographic process and lo‐fi electronics. He prefers a careful and considered approach to image making which should not be confused with best practices, as his work is more about embracing the potential of an indeterminate process. What he wants is the definitive by chance, leveraging lo‐fi or DIY technologies often with unusual or startling effect. Kyle holds a BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design and currently resides in Calgary where he spends most of his time in the dark.
