A Brief Evolutionary History of the Multilens
HD Video (color, silent)
TRT 13’
2022-23

Video excerpt and video stills


This digital animation depicts cameras in a series as they morph into ever increasingly complex lens arrangements. From an 8'x10' outfitted with a single lens, to a stereo lens Holga, all the way through turret, multispectal, and 360 pano cameras, the piece ends with a 95 lens camera array. This work is part of a new body of work imagining camera technology as part of the evolutionary pathway of synthetic consciousness. Taking inspiration from the ways evolutionary biologists chart the development of eyesight, this piece playfully weaves camera bodies together to suggest Darwinian concepts such as mutation, variation, and genetic drift.

The excerpt here shows cameras with five through fifteen lenses. The video in it's entirety portrays single lens cameras through ninety five, with sixty individual cameras animated.