Vertical Video

For Vertical Video, Amare has put together a series of short digital animations and video works. Young artists are invited to experiment on a vertical screen: shaping a visual composition that is able to tell a story to visitors who pass by in just a short period of time.

The works range from abstract visual experiments to narrative pieces, showcasing the diversity and richness of digital art. The animations bring a dynamic energy, giving visitors an overwhelming visual experience.

New work is shown every other month.

November / December 2024

Artist: Martijn van Boven

Wipe Patterns

Wipe Patterns is a video artwork that combines analogue video signals with modern animation techniques to dynamically bring graphic shapes to life. By using A.I. models, an illusion of movement is created from static images.

The production process is technical in nature and takes place in a studio setup with analogue video test pattern generators, comparable to sound synthesizers. This equipment generates various static video images, which are then digitized. Images with a strong graphic character and a recognizable analogue aesthetic are sought. This is followed by an experimental phase with various A.I. models that are able to animate still images. Because these models are not trained to work with minimal, abstract shapes, an alienating result is created that brings out unexpected properties of the source material.

Previous artworks in Vertical Video

September / October 2024

Artist: Sondi

A Glimpse 

In A Glimpse, artist Sondi invites you into a fragment of the virtual worlds she meticulously constructs—worlds that are both deeply personal and universally resonant. This video work serves as a window into the expansive digital realms she creates, where memory, heritage, and imagination intertwine to form immersive landscapes. Born in Cameroon, raised in Germany, and now based in the Netherlands, Sondi’s identity as a member of the African diaspora is intricately woven into the fabric of her work. 

This video is a continuation of Sondi’s broader artistic journey, where she uses the concept of worldbuilding to delve into complex themes of identity, belonging, and rest. By blending elements of game design and film, Sondi offers viewers a glimpse into her worlds.

Read more about Sondi and her artwork in an interview >

June / July / August 2024

Artist: Zalán Szakács

Lichtspiel: Ars Anaclastica

Lichtspiel: Ars Anaclastica is part of an ongoing artistic research project series where the Rotterdam-based installation artist Zalán Szakács explores historical pre-cinema light projections, integrating them with a site-sensitive approach to architectural spaces. In Lichtspiel: Ars Anaclastica (Experiment No. 4), he uses the refraction of light through kinetically controlled lenses to transform the entrance hall into a mesmerizing display of light and color, interacting with the architectural features of Amare. Each month, Szakács will experiment with different kaleidoscopic lenses to analyze their impact on space.

The work is created in collaboration with Nick Mansveld (technical production and design).

Read more about Zalan Szakacs and his video artwork in an interview >

April / May  2024

Artist: María Pérez - Lozao

Shiba Inu Faux Dreams

Faux presents a 5 minute loop showing an hyperreal landscape inhabited by the virtual dogs from the Nintendo DS game Nintendogs.

These creatures, though unmistakably unreal, possess a remarkable resemblance to real-life dogs. Their movements, gestures and behaviour are uncannily authentic, evoking a sense of familiarity and resonance akin to physical dogs.

The landscape they roam is impregnated with a sense of fake realism, similar to the ones found in video games, which initially try to mimic the world we live in but end up being carried away by imagination and distorted by fantasy.

Playing with this contradiction of unreal reality, the landscape paints a world coloured by wonder and mystery. Emptied from a deeper meaning, this scene is just a playful portrait of a surreal magical world that only exists by allowing technology to tint our natural and mundane reality, dictated by magic and imagination.

February / March 2024

Artist: Sjoerd Mol

Falling Items

Falling Items is a film consisting of a series of short animations that reveal the essence of ‘rendering’, which is the process by which images are generated based on data. The animations show how items, characters and environments are rendered in the video game industry. The animations trace the evolution of computer-generated images, from the nostalgic simplicity of Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64 console to the high-definition worlds of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Falling Items reveals how three-dimensional models are made and emphasises their complex layered nature in a time when computer-generated images have become indistinguishable from reality.

Artist: Deborah Mora

Title: I’m Trying To Speak The Language Of My Eyes
Year: 2023
Format: Digital Video

I’m trying to speak
the language of my eyes

my eyes don’t use sentences
and they don’t know words

my eyes pick bit by bit
glean the details
connect dot to dot
to knot the code

my eyes are silent
but I’m trying to feel what they touch

as they perceive the light
gliding on surfaces
tracing contours
mapping shapes
finding the openings in the shadow

i’m trying to make sense
of a language i don’t yet speak
like an infant or a foreigner
i just trust
what i feel
when i see
my eyes are the portal to the world

The work is a video-poem, an exploration and reflection on the sense of vision as a tool to understand signifiers - but also and more importantly, as means through which we can interpret something by feeling it on an intuitive level. stripped of their original context, and deprived of words or sounds, mixed-media imaginary is collaged in non-linear format of storytelling. By forming different constellations of images, meaning is left open.

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