Ripples of Time

Presented as the curatorial statement for the exhibition A Reservoir of Time, this video installation work consists of a video projection onto a water surface. The single-channel video is created as a compilation of clips and images sourced from the Internet, depicting scenes from around the world, ranging from archival footage dating as far as a century ago to videos taken in the time of digital recording, to clips of the present day as well as AI-generated videos. The juxtaposition of imagery from the past, the present, and the non-existent AI-generated videos creates a twisted sense of perception of time, and of reality, as the past, present, and future blend seamlessly in a dreamlike manner.

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Projected onto a pool of water, the work borrows the physical form of water as a symbolism of a portal where different timestreams flow into each other. The ‘portal’ also parallels the phenomenon of online video streaming sites, as the work examines the accessibility of vision of another time-space through the Internet, with visual materials from across time and geographical locations being shared online, restored, and even upscaled to fulfil our desire to peek into another point in the time-space continuum.

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How does the past influence the present, and how would the present alter the future? Can the present change how we view the past, and how will the future change the present?