Some people may experience epileptic seizures or lose consciousness when exposed to rapidly changing images and flashing lights, such as those shown in this video. Such reactions can occur even if no such susceptibility has previously been identified.
Kati Lübeck, born in Dortmund in 1999, has been studying Communication Design at the Faculty of Design at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences since 2018. Since the start of her studies, she has also regularly attended seminars in the Digital Media and Experiment programme. She has been working freelance since 2019 and has been involved in, amongst other things, the Real Time exhibition (2019) and the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences fashion show (2020), as well as a project by the Bielefeld Art Association (2020). Her work focuses on digital visualisations, which often involve playful interaction: the interplay of image and sound at the interface between the analogue and digital worlds.
This work is an audiovisual representation of the track ‘Scharlachrot’ by NXMERCY. The visuals were created using analogue techniques. The reactions of various liquids in a Petri dish were filmed using a macro camera. As every sound in the track was visually represented, the editing process was very labour-intensive. The typical structure of a techno track (repetitive, structured, with a rich soundscape) alternates between 16, 32 and 64 bars. The auditory changes follow this rhythm.
The colour palette is very minimalist (black, white, red and green). The focus is primarily on the textures. Black and white, the colours offering the greatest contrast, stand out even more clearly through inversion and perfectly complement the visualisation of energetic music. The subtle use of green when red is inverted creates a distinctive impression on the viewer’s eye. The colour red has taken on a symbolic form: danger, fire, blood – fitting the dystopian mood of the piece, despite the abstract nature of the genre.
The music video was projected onto the walls of the Old Synagogue at the Oerlinghausen Art Association, transforming it into a digital exhibition. This breaks down the barrier between the analogue and the digital – just like the liquids, which were mixed together in the analogue world, recorded and edited digitally, then brought back into the analogue space, yet can ultimately only be viewed on screens. However, one can expand this digital space and experiment with it, and perhaps even discover advantages that reveal the world from a different perspective.
Kati promises you one thing: you’ve never been so fascinated by washing-up liquid and milk.
