Eric Souther is a new media artist who draws from a multiplicity of disciplines, including anthropology, linguistics, ritual, critical theory, and New Materialism. He develops video instruments that investigate technological & cultural ecologies, agency, and emergence. He looks for new ways of seeing beyond the seductive qualities of an image, and to find unseen connections that help us understand our digital and non-digital existence. His work takes many pathways, which include single-channel video, interactive installation, projection mapping, print, virtual reality, and audiovisual performance.
His work has been featured nationally and internationally at venues such as the Museum of Art and Design, NYC, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, and the Museum of Art, Zhangzhou, China. His work has screened in The Athens Digital Arts Festival, Athens, Greece, Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival, Beyoglu, Instanbul, Cronosfera Festival, Alessandria, Italy, the Galerija 12 New Media Hub, Belgrade, Serbia, the Simultan Festival, Timisoara, Romania, and the Festival ECRÃ of Audiovisual Experimentations, Rio de Janeiro.
In 2016, Eric won the Juried Award for Time-Based at the international art competition ArtPrize. He received his B.F.A. in New Media from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2009 and his M.F.A. in Electronic Integrated Arts from the New York State School of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2011. He currently is an Associate Professor of Video Art in the Division of Expanded Media at NYSCC at Alfred University.
Website: https://www.ericsouther.com/
Proposal:
Frequencies of Deep Time, Single Channel Video, 2022, 6min 22sec, 3840 x 2160 UHD 4k Frequencies of Deep Time explores changes of geological time in Western New York, change that form strata in the rock formations of gorges like Watkins Glen State Park. I am interested in the stories the formations can tell of the co-evolution of life and minerals, of humans and non-humans, and their entanglement with one another and the land. I developed custom software that uses sound waves to augment three-dimensional forms animating the geological landscapes. Oscillations work as an audio-visual metaphor for change across deep time and provide a way to perform across an incomprehensible length of time. This project is made possible, in part, with funds from the Media Arts Assistance Fund, a regrant partnership of NYSCA and Wave Farm, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.