Rhys Votano created this video artwork in Iceland during the Summer of 2015 with performer Svala Johansdottir and sound artist Eirik Boen Gravdal. For this work Votano used a photo-chromatzia style to retell the Norse myth of creation. The white appears like the ice of Nilfheim, signifying the blank nothingness before time. Emerging from the light is Ymir whose presence solidifies to make the rocks and mountains, hair flowing into rivers and skin growing the grass. At the end of the chaos, a portrait of the human form holds its place in time. It was from Ymir’s armpits that the first man and woman grew. The sound used in this preview is provided by Eirik Boen Gravdal. It is static glitches and feedback distortion, akin to the frequencies that pinged about before sound settled into harmonies. It too has the objective of finding a presence.

Rhys Votano, Creation, 2015, digital video, audio, 9:25min