fxhash presents CYMATIC: Patterns of the Pentatonic— generative photographic series by multidiscplinary artist Erika Weitz and generative artist Thomas Noya. The project brings to the fair unique wet plate collodion prints—created with one of the earliest photographic processes of the 19th century and custom software.
The 5 physical artworks can be acquired during the Paris Photo Fair at the fxhash booth, F12. Each physical piece comes in tandem with an NFT certificate on the blockchain, acting as a digital proof of authenticity and ownership. The digital, generative long-form project will be available to collectors online after the fair concludes, with a limited reserve available for pre-purchase during the fair, allowing collectors to claim a physical piece.
CYMATIC: Patterns of the Pentatonic
CYMATIC: Patterns of the Pentatonic by Erika Weitz and Thomas Noya builds upon three centuries of technological innovation and image-making. Bridging between wet plate collodion photography—one of the earliest photographic processes of the 19th century—and generative art, an emergent digital artform, CYMATIC resumes an ongoing dialogue that unites the digital and the analogue.
The project unfolds in two complementary parts: a curated series of five physical photographic artworks in tandem with a generative long-form series, of which acquired editions are permanently preserved as unique digital artifacts on the blockchain.
Each of the five physical artworks represents a frequency of a note from the pentatonic scale, captured through cymatic resonance patterns. These patterns, researched in the late 18th century, are visual representations of sound vibrations which occur when particles self-assemble into symmetrical shapes in response to specific frequencies. In CYMATIC, a custom code-driven system simulates these patterns and is used to create a permanent image via collodion photography. Coded light is then projected onto a metal plate coated with light-sensitive chemicals, where the light exposure activates silver particles to form the image.
While exploring the architecture of light and sound the project reveals how a single phenomenon can manifest across multiple dimensions of human perception; both wave based phenomena interact across the natural, physical and digital. The pentatonic scale plays into this concept and reinforces it—as it is one of music's most fundamental and universally resonant structures. In this manner the five artworks mirror the five notes of the pentatonic scale, each capturing a distinct resonant pattern. The digital collection echoes this, with each acquired edition capturing a pattern produced by one of the five notes.
CYMATIC embodies a dynamic interplay between historical and contemporary practices. In this setting, both the photographic wet plate, and code become playgrounds for creative expression and experimentation, where the artists lean into the unexpected surprises that occur during the art-making process, and engage in a dialogue with their respective mediums.
This project is curated by fxhash for Paris Photo 2024 as part of the Digital Section.
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Erika Weitz is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Los Angeles, CA. With over 17 years experience as a photographer and 10 years in the historic wet plate collodion photographic process, she has pioneered new techniques to merge analogue and digital images into physical forms creating new and evolving forms of chemical light painting. Weitz has shown her work in solo exhibitions in Los Angeles as well as group exhibitions such as Scope Contemporary during Art Basel Miami and internationally in Korea, London, Paris and Berlin.
Thomas Noya is a multimedia remixer and visual artist from Venezuela currently based in Los Angeles. His work materializes and remineralizes digitally—moshing and kit-bashing datasets via generative algorithms, machine learning, and video editing. He holds a BSc in Digital Arts Computing from Goldsmiths, University of London, and has participated in group shows in London, Miami, Caracas, and Buenos Aires. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Design Media Arts at UCLA.