Uršula Berlot – Categories

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2017

Album: Scanner, The Great Crater
Video: Uršula Berlot & Sunčana Kuljiš Gaillot
Music: Robin Rimbaud - Scanner

Video created for the track Cast to the Bottom from the album The Great Crater by Scanner (Glacial Movements, 2017). Composed of landscape 3d digital simulation and digitally processed video recordings, the video shows a virtual journey through an imaginary underwater landscape. Landscape segments are reminiscent of Berlot's previously realized works of art - topography of magnetic fluids and light sculptures. The dreamlike quality of video comes from the uncertainty of recognizing temporal and spatial coordinates, hovering camera recordings in motion and the dematerialized effects of light.

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Liquid Solidity

nature-magnetism, Video

2017

video 5,06'
3D animation: Sunčana Kuljiš Gaillot
sound: Scanner - Robin Rimbaud

The round-shaped form in the process of constant transformation is based on the idea of simulating life at the molecular level. The structure, which periodically resembles a virus structure, complex proteins or carbon fullerenes, is being decomposed, transformed and re-shaped in a string of regulatory processes. The fusion of elements according to the rule of shape and anti-shape (the key–lock principle), chain formation, deformation with multiplied symmetry or a simulation of the Brownian motion create a flexible abstract form, which in a state of constant metamorphosis tends to seek stability. The simulation of processes at micro- and nano-scales reveals the surprising fact that many substances at the molecular level, as they strive for stability, flexibility and indeed their very existence are formed and arranged according to some intelligent order, even though they are not actually alive.

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Inverse Space

nature-magnetism, Video

2017

video 4,24'
sound: Scanner - Robin Rimbaud

The video Inverse space works on two levels of microscopic observation: the first line of recordings shows the transformation of a non-living (inorganic) substance from one physical state to another – namely, the process of crystallization, which involves the transformation of an ionic liquid state into a solid matter triggered for the purpose of maintaining a balanced system. The recording of the formation of various crystal types is interrupted by a set of static images of geometrically-shaped concentric patterns or grids, which function to periodically interrupt the visual field. These images illustrate the technological structure of the view and simultaneously reveal another level of microscopic visualization. The compositions consisting of points of light on a dark background, which are reminiscent of stellar constellations or similar, are the result of electronic diffraction on crystals which allows the visualization of crystals in inverse space. The system of microscopic lenses reveals the inverse (reciprocal) multidimensional space, which is mathematically expressed in complex numbers as the ratio between the real and imaginary values. Although the crystal images appear to be simplified, the reciprocal space in fact contains far more information than the physical three-dimensional reality that we typically inhabit. At the same time, microscopic observation of magical landscapes featuring the birth of crystals reveals the sublime beauty of multidimensional space, which extends beyond the mere visual to the limits of the intelligible.

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Reciprocity

Light Works, nature-magnetism

2017

diptych: laser-cut and digital print on plexiglass,
dim: 200 x 135 cm

The hanging objects present microscopic images of a carbon substance and its digital mapping (transcription) into a reciprocal space. Perforation of the transparent carrier-surface and the accompanying shadow cause the object to become dematerialized and the transition of the material into an immaterial state in space.

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Polymorphic imprint

Light Works, nature-magnetism

2017

installation composed of 4 reliefs (CNC sculpture) and 4 photographs (digital print on acrylic support)
dim: reliefs (each): 80 x 80 cm; photographs: 60 x 60 cm

The crystal structures are microscopically analyzed using computer programs, which allow the simulation of mapped image projections into the inverse (reciprocal) space. The manipulation or reduction of data using filters in the domain of inverse space – which is considerably more complex than real space – and the subsequent projection of the motif (based on the partial information) back into the real space generates a transformed version (copy) of the original image. As a result of this mapping the motif is still recognizable; however, the original form has been changed.

Ground reliefs are based on and developed through such mappings and modifications of the image, which was created during the process of microscopic observation of the carbon substances (see the work Reciprocity). The three-dimensional imprints of images, which were created by diffraction in the inverse space (the filters used in this procedure are illustrated by the graphics on the wall), express the similarity embodied in diversity (dissimilar similarity) and from this perspective represent polymorphic imprints of this particular sameness.

The procedure involved in digital mapping and spatial projections, which shape the transformations of the same motif, metaphorically address questions of perception and the selective operations of the psychological structures (perception filters) that define them. These serve to express the idea that our reality is a complex imprint of reciprocal (multidimensional) space, while the polymorphic shape of the visible is created out of the subjective nature and conditions of perception.

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Observatory: carbon nanotubes

Light Works, nature-magnetism

2016

sound-kinetic diorama
exterior: acrylic object in crystalloid like form;
interior: relief, turntable, light, sound
sound: Scanner - Robin Rimbaud
dim: 115 x 72 x 70 cm

The kinetic diorama submerged within and enhanced by the audio environment observed through an opening in the surface of a crystal-shaped object imitates the structural makeup of carbon nanotubes visible through a microscope. A hub of tubes creates a nano-topographic simulation, whose technical attributes reveal another specific characteristic uncovered within the domain of light technology: carbon nanotubes, which represent a compelling potential, since they allow, indeed facilitate the transformation of electrical energy into light with virtually no heat loss.

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Observatory: magnetic fluid

Light Works, nature-magnetism

2014-2016

sound-kinetic diorama
exterior: acrylic object in crystalloid like form;
interior: relief (three-dimensional cast), turntable, light, sound
sound: Scanner - Robin Rimbaud
dim: 110 x 60 x 60 cm
Photo by: Damjan Švarc

A miniature silver landscape in motion that can be viewed through the observation perforation in the surface of a cristal-like object is based on the photographs of magnetic fluids that served as the basis for digital model development and the resulting 3D printed reliefs. In the act of viewing the framed panorama in the static position, the viewer loses a sense of scale; the tiny spiked structures of the kinetic surface take on the appearance of the surface topography of some distant planet. Dematerialized by its own reflections, the artificial landscape blurs the distinction between the real and the virtual. Simulacra of the natural metaphorically mediate the idea of nature as a projection, one that mirrors our own projections and perceptions.

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Fluid Topography

nature-magnetism, Video

2014

video 13,16'
sound: Scanner - Robin Rimbaud
video effects: Sunčana Kuljiš Gaillot

The recording of dynamic forms of magnetic fluids that are produced by invisible magnetic fields direct the experience of the material in relation to the immaterial. The ferrofluid structures, which are in reality only a few centimeters in height, being transposed into a digital environment operate as macro-scale phenomena that simulate characteristics of the organic, the animate. Fluid topography acts to simulate a natural living organism or process, which by revealing the sphere of unseen magnetic physical attractions and energies works to (re)direct the viewer towards more subtle, usually imperceptible aspects of reality.

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Ferrocrystals

Light Works, nature-magnetism

2014

laser-cut and digital print on plexiglass,
variable dimensions
Exhibition views at UGM, Maribor (2016) and Today Art Museum, Beijing (2016)
Photo by: Damjan Švarc

Photosensitive images are based on microscopic images of the nanoparticles of a magnetic fluid's crystallized structure. Digitally processed and laser-treated images of organic patterns reveal the invisible arrangements at nano-scale dimensions. At the same time the material reproductions on the glass create dematerialized sensory bodies whose projections transform our perception of space. The installation implies a moving viewer, as the surface textures vary with the viewing angle.

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Micronature

Drawings, nature-magnetism

2005

mixed techniques on tracing paper
dim: 30 x 40 cm (4), 50 x 60 cm (2)

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Attractions

nature-magnetism, Video

2005 / 2010

video 2'
sound: Scanner-Robin Rimbaud

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Principle of Attraction

nature-magnetism

2005

kinetic-sound installation; plastic object, rotating magnets and metal particles
dim: diameter 70 cm

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Attractions – Similarities

nature-magnetism

2005

four kinetic objects with magnets and metal particles
dim: diameter 12 cm

Kinetic objects take part in the multimedia project Attractions – Similarities that focuses on magnetism as a physical phenomenon, by visualizing it in various ways, using kinetic objects, videos, drawings, and photographs of visually magnified particle configurations. The tracking of this invisible natural activity – sound and visual recordings of the movement of magnetic particles – speak metaphorically of the strange inner order of vaguely random or chaotic (natural and cerebral) phenomena, and at the same time call into question our cognitive ability to distinguish between living and non-living, between natural and unnatural.

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Traces

Drawings, nature-magnetism

2005

synthetic color on acrylic support
dim: 20 x 20 cm (15 pieces)

Traces is a series of drawings that visualizes invisible magnetic fields with the use of spray paint, rotating magnets, and iron particles. A variety of formal circular configurations are visible by exploiting contrasts of light and shadow. These drawings manifest natural physical magnetic fields, an underlying physical principle of nature, subtly intangible yet visibly perceivable.

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Dimension of Divergence (v. 1: Aquarama, v. 2.: Smokescape)

nature-magnetism, Video

2003

video projection, plexiglass, acrylic paint
v. 1 dim: 85 x 300 cm, v. 2 dim: 100 x 200 cm

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Translucent Membrane – Micronature

Light Works, nature-magnetism

2002

plexiglass, artificial resin
dim: 100 X 180 cm

'As well as the light-and-shade relationships between the material and the immaterial, the resulting optical images reveal, in their metamorphoses, completely different aspects of the dimensions of space and time. The artist attempts to problematise constantly changing natural processes through endless repetitions of mobile images by means of which she creates the new technological spaces of the optical field. In the dynamics of this process she attempts to go beyond the traditional dialectical relationships between material and immaterial, light and shade, change and permanency and transitoriness and eternity. In this way she places herself beyond all borders based on dualities. With her light objects, Ursula Berlot creates an illusory space which, as well as presenting experimental visual phenomena, is capable of setting more unusual perceptional challenges for the viewer in the sense of an individual understanding of time and space.’ – Alenka Spacal, Chrystal Shade, 2003 (excerpt)

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Cerebral Landscapes

Drawings, nature-magnetism

2002

graphic color on synthetic support
variable dimensions

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Nature

Light Works, nature-magnetism

2001

artificial resin, pigment;
dim: 120 x 130 cm

I’m interested in nature as a space of physical phenomena, elementary states of light and matter. My art is a metaphorical transposition of transitional, natural phenomena (transparency and other manifestations of light, fluid, organic states of physical substance, metamorphosis of forms, transition, condensation and crystallization of matter). Therefore, a transfer, translocation and stabilization of transitional natural states and ephemeral events with stable industrial, artificial materials. These are reduced: I use dematerialized bases of plexiglass and synthetic resin, in an analogy to the primary, fluid, colorless substance of the world. The procedures are based on the natural physical and chemical processes of gravity, crystallization, coagulation. The pictures are fragile sensors of light, open, passable spaces, translucent membranes, sensitive spaces of color ascetics, realms of shadows and reflections. They function on the sensual level; they are experienced as multidimensional organisms in material and non-material extensions. – Uršula Berlot, 2001

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2001

graphic color on a tracing paper
dim: 80x150 cm

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