⤣ SERIESRuffled: Atlantic Puffin
Fratercula arctica
This species is well adapted for life at sea with their short wings designed to swim underwater with a flying technique. When flying, it is less easy, and the Puffin has to flap its wings rapidly to take off and normally fly close to the surface of the water. When they land these birds are even clumsier, crashing or bellyflopping into waves.
The Collection
Images
Information
Year:
2014
Edition:
Edition of 8 + 2 Artist Proofs + 2 Museum Proofs
Materials:
Code, software, display screen, electronics, sensor, aluminium, acrylic
Details:
Dimensions (Metric):
Medium:
335 (W) x 408 (H) x 72 (D) mm
Dimensions (imperial):
Medium:
13.2 (W) x 16 (H) x 2.8 (D) inches
Commissioned by:
Context
"In Patrick Süskind’s novel, Perfume: the Story of a Murderer (1985), the anti-hero character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille uses a method known as enfleurage to extract and distil scents. Although he manages to capture a victim’s life essence in a glass bottle, it causes the captee’s demise in the process.
Harris portrays the life of a series of birds in Ruffled (2014, 2017) using code to display their essence behind the glass of high-resolution screens. Unlike Grenouille’s scents that will fade over time, however, these animations live on, ready to reactivate with each repeated viewing. One gets the sense that it will be only a short time before Harris figures out how to free these creatures from their transparent cages."
Extract from essay by Sunny Cheung
