{"id":14560,"date":"2021-02-19T16:47:36","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T15:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dam.org\/museum\/?post_type=artists_ui&p=14560"},"modified":"2026-08-25T16:49:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T14:49:28","slug":"portrait-on-the-fly","status":"publish","type":"artists_ui","link":"https:\/\/dam.org\/museum\/artists_ui\/artists\/sommerer-mignonneau\/portrait-on-the-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"Portrait on the Fly"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Portrait on the Fly (2015-2018)” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”” font_size=”16″ text_align=”left” font_weight=”600″][vc_column_text]This is an ongoing digital archive which consists of short video sequences where the moving portraits of well-known media art pioneers, scholars, artists, theorist, gallerist and organizers are turned into swarms of flies.
\nIt is a personal collection of fly portraits of our peers who shape and have shaped the field of media art. It is our personal homage to our friends and colleages and a celebration of the archivist’s melancholic understanding that not everything can be saved. Torn between knowing that media art is a form of art that is linked to decay and destruction, this work also envisions a format that can survive longer.<\/p>\n

Portrait on the Fly also exists in the form of a series of plotter drawing portraits on paper. Vector based drawings of digital fly portraits are drawn out on an acid free thick paper with a modern Pen Plotter similar to the ones produced in the 1960’s. Ephemeral moments of interaction are thereby immortalized in the form of graphical drawings.<\/p>\n

The interactive installation consists of a monitor that shows a swarm of a few thousand flies. When a person positions himself in front of the monitor, the insects builds up the contour of the person. They begin to arrange and rearange themselves continously, thereby creating a recognizable likeness of the individual.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”70px”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″]

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column css_animation=”fade-up” width=”1\/3″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″][vc_custom_heading text=”Fly Simulator (2018)” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”” font_size=”16″ text_align=”left” font_weight=”600″][vc_column_text]Fly Simulator is a VR software specifically developed for Ars Electronica 2018 and Speculum Artium in Trbovlje. It is a simulation of a few thousand flies that organize themselves into swarms, creating interesting patterns when users wear the 3D head set.<\/p>\n

The user’s head position influences the swarming of the flies which fly over an endless landscape of clouds. Like in a dream the user feels immersed in a strange non Cartesian world where she loses orientation and feels like she has become a fly herself.<\/p>\n

Commissioned by Speculum Artium<\/a>
\nRepresented by the Anika Beckers Galerie<\/a> Frankfurt, Germany[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]More works<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interactive Plant Growing (1992)<\/a>
\nA-Volve (1994-1995)<\/a>
\nLife Spacies I & II (1997-1999)<\/a>
\nHaze Express (1999)<\/a>
\nThe Living Web (2002)<\/a>
\nNanoScape (2002)<\/a>
\nMobileFeelings I & II (2003-2004)<\/a>
\nEau de Jardin (2004)<\/a>
\nLife Writer (2006)<\/a>
\nThe Value of Art (2010)<\/a>
\nEscape (2012)<\/a>
\nPortrait on the fly (2015-2018)
\nEgometer (2017)<\/a>
\nNeuro Mirror (2017)<\/a>
\nScavengers (2020)<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Portrait on the Fly (2015-2018)” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”” font_size=”16″ text_align=”left” font_weight=”600″][vc_column_text]This is an ongoing digital archive which consists of short video sequences where the moving portraits of well-known media art pioneers, scholars, artists, theorist, gallerist and organizers are turned into swarms of flies. It is a personal collection of fly portraits of our…<\/p>\n

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