Annie Scanner Animation (ASB 1) Cyanotype
2019. Animation. Single-channel video. Cyanotypes scanned using code (Processing). 1920 x 1080 px, 17 sec, loop.
+ credits
Visuals, research, animation:
Rachele Riley
Developed at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, 2019. Supported by UNCG’s Faculty First creative research funding.
Special thanks to Casey Reas.
Archival photos are courtesy of:
The National Archives, Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation, Las Vegas News Bureau, Cahlan Research Library (Nevada State Museum), Nuclear Testing Archive, and the National Atomic Testing Museum.
+ screenings
Gallery Oneoneone Annex
Another Potato Chip Weekend
Nov 7–12, 2018
Carrboro, NC
Curated by Louis Watts
The Evolution of Silence (Annie Scanner) expands on my web-based project, The Evolution of Silence, Version 1. It is a video being generated by scanning through code, and continues my reflective, intimate and material focus on the dynamics of research, culture, and conflict at the Nevada Test Site—this time featuring the L.A. Darling mannequins. The original archival images are gathered from research visits to The National Archives, and other libraries and exposed via cyanotype and darkroom practices.
The L.A. Darling Co. Mannequins played a unique role in nuclear testing, as part of the Federal Civil Defense program in the early 1950s. Their images offer compelling historical and cultural perspective on the marketing of war, and, acting as a counterpart to the abstraction of the land-based focus of Version 1, point more broadly and across time, to the human toll of conflict. I am interested in creating non-linear visual experiences that re-contextualize familiar images of conflict and our methods of research and engagement.