Waves of red, orange, and pale blue are projected on the facade of Surrey City Centre Library whose windows are lit up. A skyscraper stands in the distance behind.
Surrey Art Gallery logo

Credit: Pardeep Singh.

Nicolas Sassoon: Liquid Landscapes

UrbanScreen returns with Nicolas Sassoon's hypnotic pixel animations.

Date & time

-

Address

On Surrey City Centre Library facing Surrey Civic Plaza 10350 University Drive

Tickets & pricing

Free

Exhibition begins 30 minutes after sunset and ends at midnight

Colourful pixel animations with sound capture the movement of water, light, wind, and air from seven key geographic sites around Surrey: Serpentine River, Redwood Park, Crescent Beach, Nicomekl River, Boundary Bay, Serpentine Fen, and the Fraser River. Nicolas Sassoon renders the scenes in limited but vibrant colours informed by each location as well as by the retro, pixelated look of early web design.

Over the course of each animation, the images become progressively more abstract, until it is no longer obvious what the subject of the animation originally was. In this way, Sassoon alludes to how screen-based technologies distance us from reality.

Each of the seven animations will be displayed on a different night of the week, and is accompanied by audio responses created by local music producers and sound artists, including:

This artwork was previously shown in 2018 and the work has since been acquired as a part of the Gallery’s permanent collection. Curated by Assistant Curator Rhys Edwards, Liquid Landscapes celebrates the geographic diversity throughout Surrey and challenges us to think about our complicated relationship with nature and technology.

Liquid Landscapes is accompanied by an essay by Assistant Curator Rhys Edwards, as part of our Surrey Art Gallery Presents series.