Writes Viola: `Sodium Vapor was recorded over a period of several weeks in the hours between one and five in the morning on the streets of an industrial area in lower Manhattan. The title derives from an interest in the particular qualities of sodium vapor street lighting — its characteristic color temperature, the shadows it casts, and the eerie quality it seems to impart to the objects it illuminates. The essence of the work is the spell which the hour has over the physical spaces of the streets in the early morning. There is always the unseen presence of the large number of people surrounding you, most of them sleeping; the camera is awake in their dreamtime. The recording of these locations in the middle of the night rather than in daylight represents a transformation — like figure/ground reversal — of these physical spaces from the familiar thoughts and activities of the day to the night time shadows of emptiness and obscurity.’
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
B1000135
Language
English
Audience classification
unclassified
Subject category
Digital Art
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Object Types
Artwork
Materials
Single channel moving image, colour and audio
Holdings
Digital Betacam [PAL]; Master
Digital Betacam [PAL]; Sub-master
VHS [PAL]; Reference - timecoded
MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - overscan
MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - overscan