Commissioned by the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Gathering captures images of people outside the gallery space. A software programme detaches each person from their background, then organizes particular aspects (heads, t-shirts, jeans, coats, hands) by colour. The elements are recontextualized following one of an available three sets of rules that determines how the images are put back together. Inside the gallery space, the resulting composite images are displayed on a circle of 8 video projections. Similar to his piece Sorting Daemon (2003), Gathering questions the somewhat arbitrary nature that dictates the ways in which automated systems survey, record, and organize information.
Client:David Rokeby, Gathering, 2004. Video installation. Commissioned by the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Hamilton, ON for the São Paulo Bienal. Image courtesy of the artist. © David Rokeby.
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