In The Hunt for Digital Sunrises or How to Reset Your Biological Clock, the analog and digital worlds come together.
November 29, 2015, 4 PM. Live performance at the former Gallery Rento Brattinga, Amsterdam (now galerie dudokdegroot). At the occasion of our soloshow ‘Driver’s Dog“
As afternoon turns into evening, PolakVanBekkum searches frantically for live streams of sunrises via webcams worldwide. The opaque glass entrance doors are turned into a projection screen so opposing neighbors, passers-by, people on boats on the canal, and visitors inside can enjoy our journey. Slowly, they travel with the artists westward until, finally, the digital sunrise coincides with your own sunrise.
PolakVanBekkum: “From time to time, we looked up from the screen, through the window to outside, where dusk had set in remarkably early due to clouds and rain. The darkness did not touch us. We resumed time and again the sunrise, real-time, in places around the world where the morning was at that moment.
We developed the idea of The Hunt for Digital Sunrises in 2013 during our visit to ICTART 2013. We debated automating the search for webcam streams or going with the live performance. We stuck to the latter. We made a mockup consisting of four 360-degree webcam images. In the first, taken at 5:04 AM, you can still see the stars and already notice the first glimmering light of the sun touching the horizon from below.
We developed the idea further to do the try-out on October 4, 2015, during the open studios in our artist complex at Wg-plein, Amsterdam. We closed the curtains and began a slow journey through webcam land, traveling westward, picking up sunrises, and sharing these everlasting morning moments with the visitors.
