Description

Join us for the opening of the photo exhibition Moving Forward Together by artist Adam Magyar and the WEP students.

Members of the KAUST university were invited to participate in a photographic project to create an installation using slit-scan technic by Adam Magyar. On 13 January, approximately 300 students walked together to become part of a unique photograph of the community of KAUST. These pictures will be exhibited along with other works of his series entitled URBAN FLOW.

Magyar has built his camera to transpose hundreds of single pixel wide captured images per second, to create stunning images which intriguingly embrace time and space. The camera remains stationary while participants walk by. The world around it may change, and as one pixel is placed next to another, something intransient emerges. All that is moving becomes stilled and static objects such as buildings become background patterns, adding to the surreal ambiance of motion and speed within the image. URBAN FLOW is a study of quantifying movements and analyzing the rhythm of our environment. The outcome is an abstract transformation of reality. The technique he uses for it is identical with that of photo-finish cameras used in the Olympic Games. Making these images means permanent data collection about life passing by in front of the camera. The photos taken this way are sections of infinite time flowing by relentlessly, like our lifespans.

For a short moment, the time of those walking for the camera met the timelessness of the piece of art. The viewers recognize their own time and add it to the photo, comparing these two times.