1.5 x 3.5

2013

1.5 x 3.5 is a single-channel generative animation by Joelle Dietrick and Owen Mundy as part of the Packet Switching series. The title is the actual measurement for a 2 x 4 inch board. Ubiquitous as an article for the construction of buildings, as well as a formal, minimal, primitive shape, the 2 x 4 here is transformed through its incorporation into a virtual space. The simulation of the generic form becomes an index for any building material, physical or digital, and its manipulation, a metaphor for the fragmentation of digital communication.

As the central character, the 2 x 4 is virtually constructed then multiplied and subtly manipulated to form an evolving cluster floating above a photograph of a contemporary construction site. From a housing development just northeast of Orlando, nestled between the Florida Turnpike and Old Country Road 50, this backdrop also calls to mind another space described by the minimalist sculptor Tony Smith. Smith describes a drive down an unfinished highway as a sublime experience. The highway's liminal state-imagined, artificial, and full of potential-liberated Smith's assumptions about art.

Museum of Fine Art, Florida State University