Five Patterns
UK 2008 | DVD | Colour | Stereo | 01’34 Min
Courtesy Edition Medienturm, Graz
The term “Pattern” is little short of summing up a graphical and conceptual genre in new media - traditionally one might simply say swatch or ornament as well. In electronic arts the term describes a process driven by a structured formula, whereby a fluid matrix emerges through the repetitive assemblage of single elements, permanently rearranging itself by algorithmic means. This digital method applies mostly to the design of graphical elements, referencing classical abstract examples, or rather developing them further through the application of current technical possibilities.
David Muth breaks with this common practice, and he does so by working with this story in a pictorial and humorous fashion. Muth photographs patterns of industrially manufactured covers that adorn the seats of public transport and obviously don’t promise any additional artistic value – to a greater degree their masking abstracted compositions seem to be precondition for diverse usage, resistant against contaminants. In close-ups Muth zooms into the encountered graphical structures and blends them with further patterns, as if he would like to invoke a discursive massacre. Applied arts meets fine arts, abstraction meets the real life.
Text by Sandro Droschl.