“A New Life” by Simon Biggs
Title:
- A New Life
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Filmmaker, Video Artist, or Animator(s):
Symposium:
Venue(s):
Creation Year:
- 1989
Duration:
- 4 mins, 8 secs
Artist Statement:
“A New Life” is a digitally produced videotape loosely based around Dante’s first novel “The New Life”. In addition it draws upon a number of works by the early Renaissance Italian Painter Mantegna.
This work is a visual evocation of the original story but with a twist, functioning as a metaphor for the hermetics of genetic engineering.
Although involving advanced technology in the creation of “A New Life”, the production techniques are not dissimilar to much traditional animation. The work may be regarded as one more of the following: video art, animation, computer graphics or simply a pictorial narrative. Using cut and paste, 3-D graphics and editing facilities that are now available with computer technology, the works of Mantegna are recomposed and montaged, elements from one painting naturally reappearing in another, creating new “Mantegna’s” which are then integrated with entirely synthetic imagery.
Technical Information:
Digital video, colour, stereo.
Produced using a Spaceward Supernova computer graphics system and high-band digital editing. The music was composed during production by Jon Rose (Amsterdam) using digital synthesis and sampling techniques.
Other Information:
Produced London, UK 1989.
Available through the LUX centre, info@lux.org.uk
