The Forest
Grant Stevens
The Forest will be live streamed over the course of 28 days (until 15 November).
Live stream: here
In The Forest, an artificially intelligent camera roams endlessly through a computer-generated forest environment. Rendering in real-time, the artwork is constantly producing new pathways and vistas throughout the simulated scene. Initially developed for gallery installation, The Forest has been reconfigured for Making Art Work to run from a cloud-based server, generating a continuous live stream accessible online for 28 days. While the work is ‘live’ and constantly changing, time does not seem to pass in the normal way. The sun’s position is fixed. Instead, the changing scenery is driven by the camera movement, which suggests intelligent awareness, but unclear motivation. This digital simulation provides an uneasy proxy for the living world. It is an imagined natural setting that is idealised and homogenised through algorithms; a peaceful refuge and unsettling lament.
Grant Stevens, The Forest, 2020, Live streamed procedurally generated computer graphics with sound. Courtesy the artist and Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney.
Grant Stevens has exhibited widely since the early 2000s. He is represented by Sullivan + Strumpf, Sydney, and Starkwhite, Auckland, and is currently Deputy Head of School (Art) at UNSW Art & Design, Sydney. His works often explore conventions of representation and the mediation of lived experience.