During Programme No. 4, 13 June until 19 July, 2009, exhibition “Anisotropic View of Presence” by Latvian artist Jānis Garančs (1973) at the Kim? / RIXC Gallery. The exhibition is in the series of exhibitions dedicated to Latvian electronic art. At “Anisotropic View of Presence” an interactive installation was inviting viewers to enter an audiovisual environment where several interconnected assumptions and phenomenon of modern science was illustrated.
Physicists use the term anisotropy to describe direction-dependent properties of materials. Anisotropy can be defined as a difference in a physical property (absorbance, refractive index, density, etc.) of some materials when measured along different axes. An example of anisotropy is the difference in speed of light (and spectral characteristics) on different axis of various crystals. Another example is the specific electrical resistance in selenium which is higher in one direction and lower in the other. When alternating current is led to selenium, it flows only in one direction and thus becomes a direct current. Cosmologists use the term to describe the uneven temperature distribution of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The conception of anisotropy is also used in chemistry, optics, medicine, biology etc.
Scenes similar to illustrations of physics basic principles reveal a world woven from pulsating “hybrid tissues” the structure of which is determined by metaphysical codes. In these synthetic “landscapes” the visual and acoustic perception of a viewer takes part in imaginary “space surgery”.
The exhibition contributes to the nascent Latvian Archive of Electronic Art and provides Latvian public with an opportunity to see a complicated interactive technology artwork.