NeoGeo I - IV
2012
Marina Zurkow in collaboration with Daniel Shiffman
Processing development: Dan Shiffman
Single-channel animation, color, silent
Qucktime renders of Processing sketches, custom computers, speedrail, mirror
12 minutes each
Technical Assistance: Paul Paradiso
Edition 1/5

NeoGeo I-IV is a series of 12-minute Quicktime video captures of algorithmic, moving image work created using the software language Processing. The work visually represents the work of an oil drill as it penetrates through an infinite series of geological layers. The layers of sediment continually auto-generate based on pre-programmed parameters. The videos are mounted and hung from the ceiling, each contained within a mirrored shadowbox that creates an infinity illusion.

The environment of the animations is composed of tiny bits of hand-drawn rock, created in code, and activated by rules of physics and the formation of strata. Rules affect the density and behaviors of the strata, as well as the possible whereabouts of hydrocarbon particles, all of which come into contact with a drill bit. Cap rock (salt and shale) forms a barrier under which hydrocarbon particles accumulate. An oil “gush” occurs if conditions are right. NeoGeo visualizes the density and graphical, mutating formations of rock, as well as the liquidity of the earth over unfathomably long periods of time.

Photo: John Berens

Photo: John Berens