Garrapata Diagonal was created as a temporary installation for vacant shop space in Gateway outdoor mall. Although the frosting has been removed from the glass, the reflections of daylight make it difficult to see into this unlit space. Even if you stand close, put up your hands, and use yourself to block the reflections, it appears to be a completely vacant interior. Blank white walls, decorative tile work and fancy but worn painted details on the floor, empty except for a few abandoned chandeliers and a couple of electrical conduits with small tangles of wires that rise from the floor, indicating the former location of display cases.
As night falls, the character of this space entirely changes. A projected video image of wild, empty ocean is cast upon the back walls. The constantly moving but compositionally unchanging image, made with a single shot, depicts the first 10 minutes after sunset looking west from Garrapata State Park in California over the Pacific. The composition places the horizon as a diagonal line running from the upper right corner to the lover left corner of the frame. This is meant to explore technology as a mediation of perception and nature. The horizon forms the longest line we can see when gazing across the land or sea. A diagonal is the longest line that can be made in the frame of a camera.
Because the camera was manually set for the correct exposure at the beginning of the shot, the colors and quality of light change subtly over the duration of this single, 10 minute capture. It repeats continuously. The image falls over the back of the space, breaking and bending where the walls themselves change direction. The chandeliers cast shadows. The vacancy is now appropriated as location, both connecting with and providing context and contrast to this powerful projection of wild nature. Both are empty and austere, but also compelling. The image occupies and repurposes the space throughout the night. With the light of dawn, the image of the ocean fades away. The space returns to its daytime identity as a vacant storefront.