The City Quartered

My film for the 'Beyond The Digital Surface'exhibition, is an attempt to explore the nature of cities, in particular London, by using the idea of captured digital surfaces. In this project I have decided to take two elements and try to stitch them together to hint at the nature of my urban surroundings, London. The two elements I have chosen are, architectural structure, and architectural surface.

The structure I have used is from an old map of Seoul. This map indicates the very formal nature of a walled city, and exemplifies the relationship between structures of habitation, and mankind's desire to formalise his surroundings. Walled Seoul, has a set of strong features .The city had four main gates, North, South, East and West. Each gate has its own properties such as colour and a mythical animal. Traversing the city is the river Han. It was the North, South, East and West aspects of the city that I decided to use as a structure for my film. I have imposed on that structure the surfaces to be found in London. It is these surfaces that need re-inventing, to be presented in a manner that reflect the nature and re-purposing of physical structures in the 21st Century.

The treatment for each area attempts to play with the contemporary transient nature of the meaning of buildings in London. As digital technology makes redundant the need for the traditional building types, vast areas can be re-purposed utilised and the original nature of areas gets mixed up with the contemporary purpose. No longer do the facades display the purpose of the building and so the surfaces have just become patterns that perhaps can be deconstructed and rebuilt to relate to a new medium in a new era

Research Interests
Deciphering our understanding of the digital city; the city / urban landscape; the city’s temporal context and rhythm.
Profile
After eight years working with the co-operative arts group D-Fuse, focusing on web, video and DVD technology to produce installations and live events, Andrew Stiff was appointed to run the MA Digital Arts and MA Digital Arts Online courses at Camberwell College of Arts. He now works as an independent digital artist, using his experience of working within the Architectural environment to explore the multiplicities of perception in our built environment. He has shown video installations in Rome, Seoul and recently as part of the London Architecture Biennale.
Current Research - Artist Statement
"My work is concerned with developing a visual language of the intricacies implicit in our built environment. The surface of the city is the visible manifestation of our endeavour to formalise, expand and innovate within the spaces that we create. The surface also defines the relationship between the inhabitants and the city. This relationship is in continuous evolution, as technology manipulates the everyday patterns that have defined the city throughout the ages. The experience of the city is a temporal one, and I use moving image to reflect this experience. My work aims to explore the politics of the city, questioning the temporary nature of 'landmark' structures, where the constantly changing company nameplate plays a pivotal role, and the architectures lack of engagement with the culture of space." - Andrew Stiff

• http://blog.stiff97.co.uk
• http://www.madigitalarts.co.uk