Philippe Parreno The Blasted Tree, The Fireflies, The Sun and Their Larvae (A Kuramoto Automaton), 2023
80 x 60 x 60 cm (server)
The Blasted Tree, The Fireflies, The Sun and Their Larvae (A Kuramoto Automaton), 2023, is the latest development in Philippe Parreno’s series of automaton-based works. It consists of an animation on a freestanding lightweight LED screen display screen, controlled by a software program and geo-located to the movement of the sun. The program is run by the second element of the work, the Brain, a customized computer placed inside a freestanding console with a Smart Glass door (Smart Glass switches instantly from frosted to clear when an electric current is applied).
The screen shows an animation based on the 1850 oil sketch Blasted Tree by American painter Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900), in the collection of The Art Institute, Chicago. Parreno actually painted a copy of the painting, which he then 3D-scanned to form the basis of the animation. Controlled by the Brain, 3D-animated fireflies flicker both on the surface and inside the still landscape, as if they were inhabiting the painting.
