The Elevated Line

The Elevated Line (2022) is based on 3D volumetric scans I captured along the High Line, this nine-minute looping video with original music by R. Luke Dubois is a cinematic view of a stroll down the Chelsea promenade as perceived by a cyborg with combined human and computer vision. During its walk, this character encounters a kaleidoscopic cast of characters including avatars from my various past projects from 1998 to today. 

Excerpts from essay by Ryan Lee Gallery: To reconcile with the inseparable interweaving of technology in the 21st century, Gannis has adopted an artistic outlook of the world around her inspired by the flâneurs of 19th century France. A word invented by Charles Baudelaire to describe “the painter of modern life,” Gannis embraces in her daily practice the ability to wander, detached from society with no other purpose than to be an acute observer of digitalized and computerized contemporary life. As such, she is a 21st century flâneuse, traversing physical and digital spaces with an eye to grasp, process and create works of synthesis—which capture the spirit of our rapidly shifting visual and technological times. Therefore, Gannis’s practice, an ecology of her own creation, looks to the abstract/impressionistic future while remaining firmly rooted in art and cultural history.

During her daily bouts of volumetric flânerie, Gannis captures 3D Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scans with her phone wherever she goes. The artist captured the raw material for this video over the course of three scrolls up and down the High Line during the summer of 2022. The goal was not to capture a clean and flawless scan, but rather impressions of the physical experience of this New York City landmark—the act of digitally scanning while constantly moving resulted in fragments of reality.

Studio Acknowledgments:
Studio Assistance: Austin Fenn