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thaw

A work made of color film, sound, transferred to three-channel digital video (projections on three attached screens); 4:10 min. loop
edition number four of four.
© Doug Aitken

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  • A work made of color film, sound, transferred to three-channel digital video (projections on three attached screens); 4:10 min. loop
edition number four of four.

Date:

2001

Artist:

Doug Aitken
American, born 1968

About this artwork

Doug Aitken’s acclaimed video installations take aim at what it means to live in an age when human experience is increasingly shaped by the mediating effects of technology and an unprecedented degree of mobility. Many of his videos unfold as journeys through desolate places in which the natural and the artificial begin to blend. Others offer technology-inflected visions of landscapes in a state of flux. Aitken described his body of work as a series of “structures which move outward in different trajectories and yet share a connection.” He went on to say, “If I create a work which is intensely human, then maybe the next work I want to make is as far from that as possible. It is a constantly evolving process of point and counterpoint.” The three works by Aitken in the Art Institute’s collection—monsoon, thaw, and the moment—vary in their formal qualities and subject matter, but they all pursue similar themes. Additionally, they provide a sense of how Aitken has used the spatial configurations of his multichannel installations in increasingly ambitious ways to extend his films’ narratives beyond the edges of the screen.
Another of Aitken’s voyages—in this case to a glacier in Alaska—inspired thaw, which depicts a landscape that is austere and seemingly free from the touch of human history. In this three-channel projection, expansive views of moving clouds and bright sun give way to images of melting snow and sheets of ice breaking off into the exposed sea. Perhaps first and foremost, thaw is an overtly sensual experience, filtered through and heightened by technology. At times, the images on the angled, adjoining screens merge to create an expansive panorama, while at other moments Aitken inverts an image to produce a disorienting effect or introduces an unexpected sensation of rhythm by juxtaposing close-ups of cracking ice or water droplets. Meanwhile, the layered, pulsing audio track contributes to a sense of volatility and movement, amplifying the quality of technological mediation as one views the glacial landscape. For the audio, the artist recorded ambient noises on location and later combined them with additional sounds that he synthesized electronically. Presenting a fractured, kinetic portrait of this place, he conveys through largely formal means the hidden dynamism of the arctic terrain as it shifts between solid and liquid states.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Doug Aitken

Title

thaw

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

2001

Medium

Color film, sound, transferred to three-channel digital video (projections on three attached screens); 4:10 min. loop Edition number four of four

Credit Line

Gift of Society for Contemporary Art

Reference Number

2002.79

Copyright

© Doug Aitken

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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