Neon overload and concave shapes pirouette majestically within a snow globe-esque locked groove. If that all sounds a bit like Akira and vaporwave passed through a dream machine, then you’re not far off. In a world of digital stimulatory cravings, Natalia Stuyk’s work is the escapist eye candy we both want and need. Just don’t expect any symbolic comment from its creator. “I don’t know what’s happening in the future, I don’t know what’s happening tomorrow! I just aim to make things that are beautiful”. In this respect, it’s hard to imagine an artist and institution so compatible in their creative vision, as Natalia and Barcelona’s premier multi-disciplinary digital arts festival, MIRA.

We caught up with the in-demand visual artist ahead of a tantalising back-to-back performance with another artist who has been pulling in all the plaudits, Call Super. Here she supplies five of her favourite surrealist visuals from the early seventies to the present day.

John Whitney & Dean Anschultz – Matrix III (1972)
John Whitney is a total legend in computer animation – he built a mechanical analogue computer in the 50s using a WWII anti-aircraft gun sight. The music actually comes from Terry Riley’s record ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’, which is also worth a listen.

 

Panasonic Glider commercial (1981)
Robert Abel made some incredible ads in the 70s & 80s (especially the 7UP ones), there are other weirder ones but this has a cute song.

 

Sabrina Ratté – Aires (2016)
All her videos are mind-bendingly beautiful. Been following her work for years and the progression from analog to digital makes her videos all the more fascinating.

Aires from Sabrina Ratté on Vimeo.

 

Katja Novitskova – A DAY IN A LIFE with THINGS I REGRET BUYING (2014)
Not actually a video artist but an installation artist, I love that her vids almost look like 3D renders while your brain tries to figure out what you’re looking at.

A DAY IN A LIFE with THINGS I REGRET BUYING from Katja Novitskova on Vimeo.

 

Rapid Eye Movements by Jeff Carpenter & Mary Lambert (1977)
Moody and surreal cartoon by Jeff Carpenter (who’s now weirdly a painter). Have never seen pt2 but I’m mildly obsessed with it anyway.

 

Catch Natalia S performing at MIRA Festival 2018. For more information and tickets, visit the official MIRA site.

Comments