Through the Looking-Glass
Lady Gaga in StarCity NYC 023 & Diamond Earth Collection

Transforming Sandra Rauch’s vibrant silkscreen collages into digital doubles and projecting them as luminous revenants via the NiftyBeamer was already a bold step through the Looking-Glass. Yet, the digital wonderland she has entered offers even more techniques to dissolve the boundaries of image and space. To the rhythmic, dynamic visual language of her analog collages, Rauch now adds digitally generated motion and manipulation of selected image elements.

Immersed in Sandra Rauch’s manipulated metropolis, Lady Gaga provocatively winks from a Times Square billboard, her gaze shifting to the left as a giant “N” falls from the slogan of a high-rise advertisement into the depths of the street canyon. The flashing lights of emergency vehicles and taxis below pulse with scrolling text on their displays. Suddenly, a massive bat detaches from the over-sized Batman insignia on a cinema advertisement, swooping darkly across the scene.

Sandra Rauch’s familiar silkscreen universe of bold color contrasts and densely packed iconic landmarks is now infused with dynamic pop elements. The images evolve into cinematic mini-narratives, adopting comic-like traits. Symbols and motifs of mass and consumer culture are referenced more explicitly than ever before. Lady Gaga herself cheekily comments on this new dimension of visual storytelling with an exaggerated, self-referential flutter of her lashes.

The dynamic additions to Sandra Rauch’s collage technique do not aim to be cutting-edge in terms of realistic animation. Nor do they need to be, as they enrich her visual language in line with her already established artistic approach. The large-format NiftyBeamer plays a pivotal role in presenting these works. It provides the framework within which Rauch’s collage concepts are effectively expanded. Techniques like overlapping, nesting, morphing, and color shifts introduce new dimensions to her digitally transformed art.

Projection transitions become an artistic tool, allowing images or layers to blend into each other. The NiftyBeamer thus opens spatial doors to the world of digital representation, bridging gaps between classic painted canvases, slide screens, digital monitors, and smartphone displays.

What was once the synchronized abundance of an analog gallery now becomes a creative sequence of individual images displayed on screen. Sets of multiple images, such as the Diamond Earth Collection featuring ten digital revenants of Sandra Rauch’s iconic works, exemplify this approach. Animated image transitions define the tone of the entire set. Sharp or soft cuts, gradual or sudden changes, glitches, and blackouts—all draw from the rich repertoire of cinematic and video animation techniques, each adding its own narrative nuance. The selection and sequence of images in the set determine the collection’s aesthetic value, transforming the set itself into a singular work of art.

In summary, a multitude of new parameters have been added to Sandra Rauch’s original analog silkscreen collage concept, expanding its possibilities. These innovations enable her to further develop her distinctive visual language within the digital wonderland. Each of these new digital works and every collection set is also equipped with a unique NFT signature. We can confidently view these as the first successful steps along a novel developmental path—one whose goals and stages are still unfolding, yet are currently being explored, discovered, and shaped by many creatives.

© Stephan Reisner / TEXT APART 2023