[out of sync] Images from the Ether exhibition features video works created using techniques developed through years of experimental practice, employing a hybrid application of analog and digital video technologies. The works are characterized by a generative, algorithmic approach to composition that involves signal processing and real-time recording sessions. For the processing of analog video signals, specially designed equipment and circuits are used that, to a certain extent, operate outside the standard video parameters. The video works include fragments that attempt to capture the visual manifestations of these threshold states, exploring the relationship between stability and collapse.

The exhibition showcases a two-channel video installation in which each video operates autonomously (out of sync), yet simultaneously generates new compositional structures by oscillating between states where something is out of place or out of sync, without ruling out the possibility of spontaneous synchrony. Both videos consist of fragments of identical content featuring representations of three-dimensional geometric figures (cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron). The video fragments were created by manipulating and modifying VHS recordings.

One of the works in the exhibition is a 50-minute video based on an audio and video recording of a performance created in collaboration with Clausthome (“Ēnā,” November 9, 2024, St. Saviour’s Anglican Church, Riga). The video was mixed in real time using multiple signal sources. A computer program with an extensive database of pre-recorded video clips was used for mixing, as well as a computer-connected video mixer with multiple analog signal sources. Material recorded on VHS tapes was used in conjunction with analog video signal modulation equipment. A MIDI interface controller was used to control the computer program.

This rather intricate arrangement of signals and equipment allows you to control the desired processes with your fingers—by sliding and turning potentiometers, or by turning various switches and buttons on and off. This manual control makes it relatively easy to perform multiple actions simultaneously, which is not always convenient with a computer program’s digital interface.

The video recording on display is not a direct documentation of the performance. Although it has been shortened, it has not been edited or otherwise altered. During the performance, the video signal was broadcast on nine different TV (CRT) screens. Their varying quality and degrees of wear and tear led to inconsistent interpretations of the signal, a phenomenon amplified by the screens' linear arrangement in a compact group.

Clausthome’s sound collages are composed of frequencies and rhythmic structures generated by modular synthesizers, electromagnetic-field noise, and fragments from an extensive sound archive containing fascinating sound phenomena discovered while surfing the radio spectrum. These diverse signals—hums, pulsating noises, voices, and words that suddenly emerge and collapse—are all recombined, filtered, and transformed into carefully crafted sonic images.

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Thanks to Lauris Vorslavs and Ģirts Radziņš (Clausthome), Uģis Albiņš, Raitis Šmits, and the Art Academy of Latvia

Mārtiņš Ratniks works in the fields of audiovisual performance and video art. He studied at the Department of Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia. He has participated in the activities of the electronic art and media centre E-LAB and, since 2000, has been a member of the new media culture centre RIXC, contributing to various collaborative projects and producing graphic design for RIXC publications. Since 1998, he has been a member of the artist group F5 (Famous Five). As part of F5, he has participated in several major international exhibitions, including representing Latvia at the 25th São Paulo Biennial (2002) and the 51st Venice Biennale (2005). For over twenty years, he has collaborated with the group Clausthome to create audiovisual performances. Currently, he is a lecturer in the Department of Audiovisual Media Art at the Art Academy of Latvia and is also pursuing a professional doctorate.