SIGNALS is a collaborative project by artists Nicolas Sassoon (Vancouver, BC) and Rick Silva (Eugene, OR) that focuses on immersive audio-visual renderings of altered seascapes. Sassoon and Silva share an ongoing theme in their individual practices; the depiction of wilderness and natural forms through computer imaging. Created by merging their respective fields of visual research, SIGNALS features oceanic panoramas inhabited by unnatural substances and enigmatic structures. The project draws from sources such as oceanographic surveys, climate studies and science-fiction to create 3D generated video works and installations that reflect on contamination, mutation and future ecologies.
Nicolas Sassoon is an artist based in Vancouver BC Canada. Sassoon makes use of early computer imaging techniques to render visions of architectures, landscapes and natural forces. His practice translates ideas of materiality and immateriality into digital animations, installations, prints, and sculptures. Sassoon’s work explores the contemplative and projective dimensions of screen-based space, and how the digital image can express dimensions of the physical realm. While most of his output is published online, Sassoon also materializes his web-based practice into a wide range of Medias. His visual research often leads him to engage in cross-disciplinary projects in the fields of architecture, electronic music, textiles, and art. Sassoon is a founder of the collective W-A-L-L-P-A-P-E-R-S. His work has been exhibited at The Whitney Museum of American Art (US), Eyebeam (US), 319 Scholes (US), Vancouver Art Gallery (CA), Plugin ICA (CA), Contemporary Art Gallery (CA), Charles H.Scott Gallery (CA), Western Front (CA), PRETEEN Gallery (MX), Victoria & Albert Museum (UK), the Centre d’Art Bastille (FR), HeK Basel (SW), MU Eindhoven (NL) , Today Art Museum (CN), the Berlin Fashion Week (DE)) and the New-York Fashion Week (US).
Rick Silva is a Brazilian-American artist whose videos, websites, and installations explore virtuality, futurology, and speculative ecologies. His work has been exhibited at institutions including The Centre Pompidou, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and The Whitney Museum of American Art. He has been featured in Artforum, Wired, and Rhizome’s Net Art Anthology. He lives in Eugene, Oregon where he is an Associate Professor at The University of Oregon.