Depletion, 2003
Scott Snibbe

Depletion, 2003 computer, projector, video camera, video capture card, retroreflective screen, custom software

quicktime video

Depletion is a virtual screen with a fixed quantity of energy. As bodies enter its bright projected field, their shadows eat away at the projected light itself. Wherever they move, the screen no longer exists – their bodies consume the projected light. The work highlights the frailty of immaterial projection – film fades, videotape warps and decays, bulbs burn out, and electronics short circuit. Depletion shows that cinema is not the most durable, but the most fragile of media.

Depletion also refers back to abstract expressionist composition by allowing viewers to create "motion paintings" through full-body gestures on its subtractive canvas.

print resolution images [1 2 3 4]

photographs by Kyle Knobel, Tavo Olmos and Scott Snibbe
(c) 2003-2004 Scott Snibbe