The Valley

Paulo Majano “The Valley”

Exhibition dates: June 11 - 20, 2009
Exhibition open for viewing June 12 and 13, Hours: 11 to 5 & June 18, 19, and 20, Hours: 11 to 5


Michael Bjornson Projects
1727 West 3rd Avenue, Vancouver, B.C.

The project ‘The Valley’ addresses the idea of virtual presence through computer generated virtual figures that reflect back to us our own shifting notions of what constitutes authentic experience in the age of avatars, immersive virtual environments, and other forms of mediated and remote interaction.

A digital projection installation of two virtual computer generated characters that mimic human appearance and characteristics. ‘The Valley’ takes viewers to a distant, yet familiar place, where the virtual exists alongside the physical.
In recent history, the idea of convincing, human-like entities has captured humankind‘s collective imagination time and time again. This is evident in our fascination with characters such as Frankenstein’s monster and Star Trek’s machine-human Cyborg.

In the contemporary world, a similar desire to transcend the boundaries of the physical body is revealed in the pursuit of ever more convincing illusion through the use of virtual actors in film and other popular media. The paradox is that these creations walk a fine line between reaching new heights of acceptance and
plunging into a chasm of eeriness, or, what roboticist Masahiro Mori called “The Uncanny Valley“.

“Some have called the [V]alley a place where monsters dwell…[where] the line between seductive illusion and grotesque imitation is easily blurred.”,says artist Paulo Majano.

With the borderless, online world creating an environment that enables and encourages incorporeal social interaction, the idea of avatars adds another dimension to the matrix. Viewers not only fantasize at new heights, but struggle with blurred boundaries and unsettling, hyper-real images.

‘The Valley’ will be presented simultaneously as a gallery exhibition and as an artist project online.

The exhibition at Michael Bjornson Projects invites viewers to experience the virtual alongside the physical as life size projections of computer generated virtual figures. Admission is free.

Online at www.filmnoise.org/valley . Starting June 11th, 2009