Marina Zurkow
Mesocosm (Wink, TX), 2012
Hand-drawn animation
(color, silent), custom software, computer, screen or projector
Dimensions variable,
landscape orientation
146-hour cycle (24-minute day, 146-hour year)
Edition of 5, 2
AP
Animation in
collaboration with Michelle Mayer
Sound in collaboration with Lem Jay Ignacio
Software
Developer, Sam Brenner
Mesocosm (Wink, TX) is part of an
ongoing series of animated landscapes that develop and change over time in response to
software-driven data inputs. A large sinkhole—the “Wink Sink 2” located on private oil company
property in the small town of Wink—boils, gushes, flows and expels objects. Mesocosm refers to
experimental, simulated ecosystems which allow for manipulation of physical environments typically
used for biological, community, and ecological research. Hand-drawn animations of these systems
present dynamic choreography in real-time. Probability equations determine the outcome of each work,
giving way to endless combinations of order and density. Exhibited video is documentation of
a generative work.