At Tabakalera Matthew C. Wilson will research for Spectral Exchange , an investigation into operations of power, economics, biology, and perception outside the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum visible to humans. He proposes an interdisciplinary research framework: Spectral Exchange.
The project seeks to draw out entanglement between ecology and economy within the anthropocene at the edge of and beyond visible light. Humanity is so deeply entangled in ecology and economy that we cannot fully see them, but merely feel their effects. In one sense they are too large, and in another they are too pervasive and evasive -- too subtle -- for apprehension. I will re-image, re-imagine, and re-engage with the entanglements by working with non-human organisms and technologies to develop an uncanny, spectral vision outside the spectrum of visible light.
This project is doubly spectral. It engages with the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation and spectre, historical ghosts. Theoretical and historical conversations around early photography and early cinema will be essential -- quintessentially modern moments and media where art and science coexisted. These will be considered in the contemporary age of machine vision.