Andreas Templin, excerpt ‘as if to nothing’ from Andreas Templin on Vimeo.
It takes a minute or so for the import of this screen of changing numbers to sink in. And when it does, it is gripping in its significance. Here’s life on this planet — the only one so far that we know harbors life (Are we still awaiting NASA’s extraterrestrial life announcement? Did I miss it? Was it just a rumor?) — and when it is coldly expressed in numbers, we get a better idea of how fragile our existence on this planet is. And, instead of working to ensure its long-term survival, all we seem interested in is the next great gadget…
Andreas Templin “as if to nothing,” 2008, computer-based single-channel videowork with sound.
updated version available every year, length is defined by length of the soundtrack: 28,46 mins (looped)
The video-installation “as if to nothing” comprises of a selection of statistical data of the earth and its population. This data, created by various governmental and intergovernmental sources and displayed in a specific and subjective interdependency, is combined with the highly dramatic second move of Bruckner’s 7th symphony which is being looped for the screening. This music-piece, a tour-de-force through human emotions, is used to underline the weight of the subject-matter of this artwork. The video-installation is in fact a computer-programme which utilizes the internal clock of the computer to calculate the statistical algorithms, which are updated on a yearly basis.
Andreas Templin is a visual artist and lives in Berlin. http://andreas-templin.blogspot.com