This project is based on a technological interpretation of satellite photo archives and includes two videos: one 3D video transformed from a satellite photo and one AI-generated video based on satellite photo archives.
The 3D video depicts one of the largest islands in the Spratley archipelago, located in a disputed maritime zone in Asia. This island is part of a group of 14 smaller islands believed to house uninhabited military bases. The image, sourced from satellite photo archives, was captured on June 2, 2016, a period during which the island was undergoing significant artificial enlargement. Today, the artificial transformation of this island is the most remarkable in terms of size and shape among the islands of this archipelago. In this video, the island is suspended and isolated in a virtual space. The archival image is transformed into 3D and reassembled by particles that are animated until they vanish into smoke in an empty space. An original soundtrack, composed by Jingyu Cao, accentuates the sensation of void.
The AI-generated video reveals the process of militarization by artificial machines on this same Spratley island from 2011 to 2020. Using AI frame interpolation, it highlights a continuous process of artificial transformation and territorial expansion, based on historical fragments — dated satellite archive photos, sourced from the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
Drawing inspiration from Vilém Flusser's notion of the technical image and Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism, particularly the concepts of nothingness and anguish, this project rethinks our human existence on the scale of cosmic space-time. What is our place as an individual in a world where the production of multiple realities intensifies? Where does the image produced by the media lead to actual territorial transformation?
Thesis work
Installation view
ENSP Arles
2023
3D animation
2”20’
AI Vidéo
Photo de satellite interpolation
1”50’
2022
Installation view
ENSP Arles
2023
3D animation
2”20’
AI Vidéo
Photo de satellite interpolation
1”50’
2022
Thesis work
Installation view
Ensp Arles
2023
AI Video
Satellite Photo interpolation
1”50’
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