0:00:19.089,0:00:20.689
The way that I was making art

0:00:20.689,0:00:21.909
before I knew it was art,

0:00:21.909,0:00:23.710
it was like making homes.

0:00:23.710,0:00:25.664
Just trying to find home.

0:00:30.977,0:00:32.859
Florida is already a strange place

0:00:32.859,0:00:38.543
filled with a lot of contradictions[br]and strata of chaos.

0:00:39.239,0:00:41.010
Growing up, there was a lot of intensity

0:00:41.010,0:00:44.134
and my parents were just fully, fully overwhelmed.

0:00:45.430,0:00:47.629
So I think it was out of this idea,

0:00:47.629,0:00:51.386
escapism does end up being necessary.

0:00:56.359,0:01:00.870
It's interesting because I see so much of[br]that in my work still today.

0:01:00.870,0:01:03.213
The same things keep coming up.

0:01:07.602,0:01:13.280
["Rachel Rossin's Digital Homes"]

0:01:17.479,0:01:21.670
I started programming when I was around eight.

0:01:21.670,0:01:23.220
I was starting to use command line

0:01:23.220,0:01:26.369
and understand that, if I typed "print," then[br]I would print the thing.

0:01:26.369,0:01:30.369
Or I was making ASCII art, which means arranging[br]letters in a format

0:01:30.369,0:01:31.889
by just hitting the "enter" key a lot.

0:01:31.889,0:01:33.335
Just playing around.

0:01:34.485,0:01:39.490
But then when Windows 95 came out, I started[br]opening up EXE packages.

0:01:39.490,0:01:40.999
So I was seeing the backend.

0:01:40.999,0:01:42.779
I was opening video games.

0:01:42.779,0:01:45.464
I was opening the games that came loaded,[br]like Solitaire.

0:01:45.464,0:01:47.359
I was trying to figure out how to open that

0:01:47.359,0:01:51.039
and then would have to try to repair it because[br]it was the family computer.

0:01:51.039,0:01:53.579
It's just a lot of breaking things,

0:01:53.579,0:01:56.010
which I think is the best way to learn.

0:01:58.941,0:02:02.033
--Of course, nothing is working[br]now that you're here.

0:02:05.824,0:02:07.244
--I need to calibrate it.

0:02:08.313,0:02:12.099
My go-to tool for animation[br]is always motion capture

0:02:12.569,0:02:16.856
because I want to be able to see something[br]living behind

0:02:16.856,0:02:19.010
something that's typically pretty sterile.

0:02:19.010,0:02:21.149
--This thing is fun because it's like...

0:02:21.149,0:02:25.030
--You're also just kind of working with the[br]way it breaks.

0:02:26.212,0:02:30.310
--So it's like I've rigged this man to live[br]inside my hand.

0:02:30.310,0:02:32.849
--So the algorithm is trying to search for[br]a humanoid figure

0:02:32.849,0:02:34.430
--using markerless motion capture.

0:02:34.430,0:02:39.603
--And instead it has the only thing they can[br]latch onto as limbs:

0:02:39.603,0:02:40.812
--my fingers.

0:02:43.291,0:02:45.540
When I first started gaming,

0:02:45.540,0:02:49.939
I started saving the assets, like the 3D models[br]that I could find.

0:02:49.939,0:02:52.401
So I built up a library from when[br]I was quite young[br][br][Rachel gaming at age 15]

0:02:52.401,0:02:55.464
and recovered a lot of the assets from those[br]hard drives.

0:02:55.464,0:02:58.183
["Skinsuits," 2019]

0:03:00.000,0:03:05.760
The first avatar that I remember consciously[br]using was a generic male avatar

0:03:05.760,0:03:11.131
and it was trying to find a neutrality in[br]the Internet that I was just navigating.

0:03:13.496,0:03:16.730
That is what led to "Man Mask."

0:03:16.730,0:03:19.859
I was just looking back and thinking about[br]when I was playing Call of Duty,[br][br]["Man Mask," 2019]

0:03:19.859,0:03:22.590
I took on this male avatar[br]to sort of live inside.

0:03:22.590,0:03:24.170
It was just like safety--

0:03:24.170,0:03:27.016
you're trying to find some sort of[br]point of neutrality.

0:03:36.750,0:03:38.309
There's this virtual avatar

0:03:38.309,0:03:42.431
that I've more or less kept in the studio[br]just for myself.

0:03:42.431,0:03:44.069
It's this harpy,

0:03:44.069,0:03:47.340
which is half human, half bird.

0:03:48.636,0:03:54.000
She, for me, represents how I feel very much[br]in two places at once.

0:03:54.879,0:03:58.769
She speaks to a reality that most people feel,

0:03:58.769,0:04:02.672
which is so much of our emotional and cognitive[br]space lived in virtual spaces.

0:04:05.904,0:04:08.157
But still...

0:04:10.409,0:04:12.439
being tethered to a "mortal coil."

0:04:12.439,0:04:13.952
[ROSSIN][br]--Have you grabbed this guy?

0:04:13.952,0:04:14.911
[ASSISTANT][br]--Yeah.

0:04:18.556,0:04:21.180
[ROSSIN] The installation is titled,[br]"I'm my loving memory."

0:04:21.180,0:04:23.960
The work is

0:04:23.960,0:04:27.500
eight plexiglass pieces that I formed

0:04:27.500,0:04:29.832
and an accompanying AR piece.

0:04:32.828,0:04:34.380
First they start as paintings--

0:04:34.380,0:04:35.860
digital paintings.

0:04:35.860,0:04:39.789
They're sourced from 3D renderings,

0:04:39.789,0:04:42.707
spaces that are fully virtual.

0:04:43.106,0:04:46.539
Then they're just printed out onto the plexiglass--

0:04:46.539,0:04:47.630
just UV printed out.

0:04:47.630,0:04:50.230
The way that the UV works is it's embedded[br]inside the plexi,

0:04:50.230,0:04:52.300
so that I can heat it enough

0:04:52.300,0:04:54.000
and then mold it.

0:05:00.131,0:05:06.694
They act so much as these hollow body[br]imprints of myself.

0:05:06.694,0:05:10.565
I'm physically using my body to form them.

0:05:16.680,0:05:19.680
I think of them as...

0:05:19.680,0:05:22.057
as shields.

0:05:22.057,0:05:25.061
["I'm my loving memory", 2020–2021]

0:05:25.896,0:05:28.699
The way that the work is installed is

0:05:28.699,0:05:31.740
it's important that it's shown with its shadow

0:05:31.740,0:05:35.090
because the AR piece blends with the shadows

0:05:35.090,0:05:37.125
that are made by the plexiglass.

0:05:38.534,0:05:40.984
When you walk into the installation,[br]you see the sculptures

0:05:40.984,0:05:44.270
and then you see this window[br]that's the AR piece.

0:05:44.270,0:05:46.830
Once you ask the AR piece to start,

0:05:46.830,0:05:49.837
there's this scene that unfolds[br]in front of you.

0:05:53.190,0:05:55.930
For myself, it always comes back to[br]my own embodiment

0:05:55.930,0:06:00.960
and how to anchor this very abstract,[br]loose space

0:06:00.960,0:06:04.674
in the same dimension that I'm in.

0:06:08.270,0:06:11.060
It's very sweet how, in a lot of ways,

0:06:11.060,0:06:14.258
the work doesn't change, it just...

0:06:14.258,0:06:16.030
looks different.

0:06:16.030,0:06:18.069
The heart is still there in a lot of ways.

0:06:21.377,0:06:24.249
["everyone's connected"]

0:06:25.707,0:06:26.613
--It's okay.