Janus

2021. Video installation by Roc Parés in collaboration with Estampa.

Janus is an installation focused on the audiovisual culture of our time and its relationship with the end of the illusory golden age of oil. It was produced by the exhibition Exposar · No exposar-se · Exposar-se · No exposar (24.09.2021 – 09.01.2022) at Santa Mònica in Barcelona.

A battered American car from the 1940s was exposed on the terrace of the Santa Monica building. The artist recorded his trip to the museum with his own vehicle and these images on the road are projected on a screen on the facade of the building. These video frames are also the training dataset of a neural network that generates a dreamlike version of this trip. The video generated by the AI is played on the screens located in the rearview mirrors of the car. The installation carries a quote of media theorist Marshall McLuhan, which inspired its formalization.

“We look at the present through a rear view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”

― Marshall McLuhan

24.09.2021, Barcelona. Obertura de portes de l’exposició “Exposar , no exposar-se , exposar-se , no exposar”, al Santa Mònica. Foto: Jordi Play

24.09.2021, Barcelona. Obertura de portes de l’exposició “Exposar , no exposar-se , exposar-se , no exposar”, al Santa Mònica. foto: Jordi Play

Concept, video and production: Roc Parés
GAN, PIX2PIX and cultural advice: Print
Raspberry Pi Programming: Azahara Cerezo.
Assembly assistant: Juan David Galindo.
Curated by Enric Puig, Ferran Utzet and Marta Gràcia.
Produced and premiered in Santa Monica. Barcelona, 2021.