in conversation is a projected, computer generated video installation that explores the nature of personal communication within digital technology networks, specifically during the early use of the Internet and email.

Year: 2001
Exhibitions: 'Persistence of Vision', Edinburgh Film Festival, Edinburgh College of Art (2001); ‘7th International Computer Arts Festival’, Razstavni Salon Rotovz, Maribor, Slovenia (2001)

in conversation is a projected installation inspired the burgeoning transfer of private and intimate communications across digital technology networks, in the late 90’s and early 2000s. The work aestheticises these activities and processes, using Beverley’s own private digital correspondence and 3D computer generated animated. The resulting visual experience probes perceptions of computers, digital platforms and programmes, as rational and unemotional.

The work was created by harvesting the email correspondence over a three month period, between the artist and her then partner. Two 3D computer generated animations were produced from this correspondence, each representing one half of the conversation. The two animations were then developed by extracting the text from the emails and translating each message into an individual 3D computer generated text layer, using 3D modelling and animation software, 3D Studio Max. These digital text layers were subsequently overlaid and subtly animated within the software, building up a dense and visually complex mass of moving text. The animations were then rendered and output as video files.

The installation features two large-scale projected video animations, one for each individual’s half of the conversation, positioned opposite one another. The projected work has the quality of a sculptural, three dimensional entity in motion but at the same time has a pixelated, painterly surface aesthetic, apparent in close up.

Funded by: The work was created at LUTCHI Research Centre, Department of Computer Science, Loughborough University as part of a C&CRS Artist in Residence and at Edinburgh College of Art, as part of a John Florent Stone Fellowship.