Text by CLOT Magazine
Flow State, Alex May’s interactive piece commissioned by the Francis Crick Institute in King’s Cross, London, is multi-layered: The piece features various film clips related to molecular biology superimposed upon one another, collected by the Institute over the course of their research; literally, the work involves the overlaying of pictures. But May’s work also stands for something more.
This concurrent video graphics motion creates a sort of rhythm — a sort of flow, if you will, which May use to link the creative rituals that underlie both science and the visual arts. Much like the repetitive work that can go on in laboratories, the trial and error of perfecting a process, artists, when focusing on their craft, may too experience what May personally defines as a “flow state,” a meditative headspace that centres on this notion of creation.
It is this shared experience that May attempts to capture using several screens powered by tiny Raspberry Pi computers, all playing many different videos. As viewers approach the front windows of the Francis Crick Institute, what they see on the screens will change as more intricacies are revealed.
On the backside of Flow State, inside the Institute, is a light installation also by Alex May, with inspiration taken again from the scientific method; the installation is based on DNA sequences. This piece was altogether unveiled to the public on July 12th, 2018.
