Dev Harlan

United States of America

Dev Harlan was born in Arizona and grew up in Silicon Valley, California. As a self-taught artist, he was particularly interested in the experimental “subcultures” of video and computer piracy in San Francisco. Then the video production took him to New York where he began producing sculpture, 3D animation and video projection mapping. His current artistic practice uses technology to address concerns about climate change and the ecological impacts of a technology-dominated society. His ideas are articulated through the digital transformation of particular objects and materials as well as the surrealist imagination in which he immerses them.


Dev’s projection works often encourage a transcendental viewing mode. Indeed, he aspires to have his work understood as a gateway to the imaginative subconscious. He likes to suggest the existence of fictional objects possessing their own radiant power and let the imagination of the spectators speculate on the sublime cosmic origins of the object. As for his main sources of inspiration, he feels indebted to artists such as James Turrell and other artists of the "Light and Space" movement who have reached the sublime thanks to their clean and radical use of light.


Dev_Harlan_3D.jpg

Five Body Problems 1

Five_Body_Problems_1_Dev_Harlan_3D.mp4

Five Body Problems 1: A speculative rare earth recovery model or the poetics of head bashing the steering wheel

A five body problem belongs to a class of problems which are very sensitive to initial conditions and often have unstable solutions. This animation does not attempt to solve a five body problem. Susan Sontag wrote that a photograph “is also a trace, something directly stenciled off the real, like a footprint or a death mask." In this way traces of the real are evident in 3D scans of objects and landscapes which dev Harlan encounters. He makes photogrammetry to share those traces. The real lesson of the anthropocene is that human societies and technology are not separate from the natural world, they are all entangled and embedded within each other. Dev Harlan depicts technological decay and disruption as the Earth System is also very sensitive to initial conditions. It is not clear if a stable solution exists for human societies and their existing technology. 

technique

3d

format

landscape

duration

02:21

year

2022

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More from Dev Harlan

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Generative art
Generative art refers to a way of creating artworks using an autonomous system. In digital art, these are usually generated from code and algorithms created by the artist, often with certain predefined parameters or systems. Although these parameters guide the final outcome of the work, generative art is generally a surprising way to create artworks, as the results are often unexpected and the number of possible outcomes can be infinite.
AI
AI art is a branch of generative art that uses artificial intelligence. Unlike other generative artworks, AI artworks use specific complex algorithms and models derived from machine learning. The most common methods for creating AI art today are GANs (generative adversarial networks) or proprietary prompting platforms such as ChatGPT, Sora, Midjourney, or Dall-e.
3D
3D art uses 3D software such as Blender, Cinema4D, Houdini, or video game software such as Unity to create works of art. In 3D works, artists can either arrange assets (the 'objects' in a 3D artwork or world) that they have created themselves or purchased from other creators to create elaborate environments and scenes (an approach to 3D art called 'set dressing'), or specialize in sculpting, which involves creating their own objects and assets.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is a specialized 3D technique that allows 3D objects to be created from numerous photographs taken of an object or scene from multiple angles. These photos are then compiled to determine the specific positioning, shape, and dimensions of the object in space, and then converted into a 3D model. Initially developed for engineering and urban planning, photogrammetry has become a way for artists to produce extremely accurate 3D models from real-life images.
Collage
An extension of the traditional, plastic approach to collage, digital collage involves searching for and cutting out multiple images, extracting them from their original context, and recomposing them in a new arrangement to create a work of art. Artists can use their own photographs or find images on the internet.
Illustration
Digital illustrations are created using software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Procreate. As with drawing on paper, the artist uses a stylus to sketch a figure or object, usually on a tablet, to construct a scene or artistic universe. Unlike traditional drawing methods, digital illustration is much more forgiving, as mistakes can be easily corrected and drawn elements and objects can be easily moved around within a scene.
Video
Video artworks primarily use a recording camera, but may sometimes include additional post-processing or editing to distort, modify or add additional elements to the image. Some artists use state-of-the-art recording equipment to create macro zoom-ins or time lapses, privileging fidelity to the subject matter. Others use additional softwares to significantly modify or warp the video, creating an alternative perspective on the world that surrounds us.

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