Client: Community Memorial Health System

Overview

Singularity was commissioned by Community Memorial Health System for the Permanent Art Collection Reflections of Art and Healing at its newest hospital located in Ventura, CA. It is sited in the first floor main elevator lobby adjacent to reception. It is the only new media artwork in the collection of 600 pieces that span the six floors of the hospital’s Ocean Tower. The twelve foot long high-resolution displays centered directly across from the elevators that take patients, visitors and staff to the upper floors creates an immersive experience.

Goals

The process of curating the Permanent Art Collection began more than ten years ago by an Art Advisory Board made up of artists, art collectors and hospital administrators. The Board’s intention was to create a body of work held together conceptually by the relationship of Art and Healing. The Board selected a diverse group of artists working in many media and styles, each asked to explore this relationship through their own process.

The large body of work is organized thematically by floor. Each artist was given ultimate freedom in the development of their work but it was understood that the goal of creating a cohesive collection for the hospital was primary. The collection was unveiled in November 2018 just prior to the public opening of the hospital.

While much has been written about the relationship of Art to our mental, emotional and physical states, this is the first collection dedicated to this exploration and its effects on patients, visitors and staff. The commitment and investment by Community Memorial Hospital is a testament to its belief in the healing power of art.

Process

The process for creating Singularity began with an Art Advisory Board meeting to review my past work and discuss how I might approach this commission. Along with the exploration of Art and Healing, there was a desire on the part of the Board that each work make a connection to the City of Ventura.

My prior work with nature quickly led me to see a connection between this beachfront community and the healing power of the ocean. Singularity imagines the changing ocean rhythms as a metaphor for the rhythms of life, a layering place and time and the tenacity of the human spirit.

I wanted the viewer to feel like they were at the intersection of realism and abstraction - to create a dreamlike experience in which one drifted from reality to imagination. Our production team documented the Ventura Coast using state of the art aerial and 4K videography equipment. In studio we created animations to capture the movement, rhythm and scale of the ocean. Our software developer Tommy Etkin built a custom platform that would seamlessly layer the content in a random sequence to create an ever-changing artwork. The completed artwork plays and runs continually, night and day.