Connor McGaffin – Looking Outwards – 04

“Deep Web” 2016
Robert Henke

I was initially drawn to this project simply through how surreal the documentation video is. The size of the crowd gathered under the laser show allows for an entirely more immersive experience. Upon reading into how the project was accomplished, and realizing that these glowing orbs of light are simply illuminated balloons being raised up and down my disbelief didn’t falter. Rather than the project losing its sense of wonder, my attention shifted to disbelief at how incredibly simple the physical setup of the show is.

In this moment, I couldn’t fully explain the algorithms behind this project. However, I have suspicions that the variables which control the movement are related to the pitch and tempo of the music being played.

Robert Henke, the project’s creator, expresses his artistic sensibilities in a raw sense through this project. A common motif in his work is the unwritten encouragement of metacognitive thinking. His work explores the intersection of sensory and how people interpret reality. This project’s ability to visualize the invisible is so spectacular and immersive that it is no exception to encouraging a perception of world in a different lens, even if for a moment.

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