Eve Luckring: WetMoon

Imagine entering a room in which you are immersed in sound, light, colour and poetry—where waves of words float through the air and appear on sheer screens that waver and move, creating a sensuous and meditative space. The language of this visual poem is not only words, but also colour, fabric, light, sound, and the movement of air, as well as the visitor’s own response. The video is 2:18 minutes, but it loops almost seamlessly, and visitors will likely choose to continue the experience for a longer time. The artist explains that unlike situations involving technology when a person’s body is not involved in the act of communication, “…this installation uses technology to pull the body into a closer relationship to the work.”

The project began in 1997 when Eve Luckring drafted the first version of the poem. She was inspired by many things including the moon’s wavering reflection in the ocean, the blue colour of a data projector’s start-up image, the structure of haiku poetry, the sound and sensory experience of wind, and the capabilities of computer software to make words dance and draw the path of a breeze in surround sound audio.

This is the first time that WetMoon has been exhibited, and this version of the installation was specially designed for the TechLab. This is also a Canadian premiere for the California-based interdisciplinary artist. Her previous work has been exhibited internationally, in traditional art spaces, as well as public sites such as nightclubs and storefront windows.

WetMoon was entirely created using computers and digital technology. The animation software, AfterEffects, created the moving text, and the programs Final Cut Pro and Pro Tools were used for sound and editing.

About the Artist

Eve Luckring makes art at the intersection of language, image, and sound. For the past several years, she has been translating traditional Japanese poetic forms into the visual realm to negotiate the contested binaries of nature/culture, subject/object, and self/world. Her work questions the assumptions—and experiments with the boundaries—that define place, body, and habit.

Image credit: Eve Luckring, WetMoon (detail) at Surrey Art Gallery.