The Syscapes are Eric’s personal visual research process, which he started on the MA Communication Design course at Central Saint Martins. He was fascinated with the almost limitless possibilities of telling stories in a virtual space, akin to video games environments, using visual cues to suggest relationships of cause and effect. To do this, he started with creating floating islands which could represent biospheres or cultures, and made them react to each other. The Syscapes project has since attracted the attention of people working in the field of synthetic biology, with screenings at art-science crossover events all around the world.
Eric himself likes to refer to the Syscapes project as being a kind of “digital biology” – creating environments and spaces which seem to follow very distinct rules. A whole range of subject matters can be addressed through the Syscapes, from political to ecological. Likewise, there are many possible ways to show the work: Indeed, instances of this ongoing project have been presented as projections, installations, or screen-based loops.
Syscapes # ELO, a 22-screen installation at ELO: Inner Exiles, Outer Limits, MUDAM, Luxembourg, 2008
Circuit I (Syscapes), installation for 9 screens at I’ve Dreamt About, MUDAM, Luxembourg, 2011
Water-screen projection at Latitude festival, 2010
Projection at the Hotel de Ville, Metz, 2011
Read a detailed conceptual essay for issue No.2 of Berlin-based OBJECTS Magazine.
Below are some of the exhibitions, festivals and locations that have hosted the Syscapes:
-Art Basel | Miami Beach, 2011, FRAME programme by Vimeo
-onedotzero adventures in motion festival 2011 at BFI Southbank
-I’ve Dreamt About, MUDAM, Luxembourg, 2011
-Synthetic Biology: Machine or Life?, Dana Centre, London Science Festival 2011
-Alpha-ville 2011 & Alpha-ville 2010, Whitechapel Gallery, London
-Rushes Soho Short Film Festival, ICA, London
-Synthesis: synthetic biology in art & society, Arts Catalyst, UCL
-Bio:Fiction – Science, Art & Film Festival, Vienna and Adelaide
-Beijing New Media Arts Exhibition 2011
-Athens Video Art Festival 2011
-Visionary Cities, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
-Vimeo Festival & Awards, New York, 2010
-Ars Electronica Animation Festival 2010
-FILE Media Art, Sao Paulo, 2010
-Music Without Sound, Latitude Festival 2010
-Moving Worlds: Triennale de la Jeune Creation, Luxembourg 2010
-Eyecandy For Strangers, Brooklyn Bowl, NY 2010
-Illustrative 2009, Berlin
-Transmediale 2009, Berlin
-Japan Media Arts Festival 2008, Tokyo
-ELO: Inner Exile Outer Limits, MUDAM, Luxembourg
Final thesis project (2008):
Proto-Syscapes, where it all started (2007):
A remix of the Syscapes sequences in MUDAM’s permanent collection:
