Marco Brambilla

Italian, born 1960

Evolution (Megaplex)

Marco Brambilla (Italian, born 1960). Detail of Evolution (Megaplex), 2010. 3D high-definition Blu-Ray disc, color and sound, edition 5/8. Running time: 3 minutes, 4 seconds, looped. Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Bequest of John Mortimer Schiff, by exchange and Gift of Mrs. Seymour H. Knox, Sr.,by exchange, 2012 (2012:20). © 2010 Marco Brambilla.

© Marco Brambilla

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

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© Marco Brambilla

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Marco Brambilla

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Evolution (Megaplex), 2010

Artwork Details

Materials

3D high-definition Blu-Ray disc, color, sound

Edition:

5/8

Measurements

running time: 3 minutes, 4 seconds, looped

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

Bequest of John Mortimer Schiff, by exchange and Gift of Mrs. Seymour H. Knox, Sr.,by exchange, 2012

Accession ID

2012:20

Created using the compositor software Flame and the Maya 3-D modeling program,Evolution (Megaplex) presents a scrolling epic of the spectacle of human conflict as recounted by the cinematic lens. It is part of Marco Brambilla’s “Megaplex” series—alongside Civilization (Megaplex), 2008, and Creation (Megaplex), 2012—and each work in the trilogy takes on a world-historical theme worthy of its grandiose title.

Each of the animated sequences within Evolution (Megaplex) is looped, which contributes to the hypnotic circularity of the work and parallels the curve of the trilogy’s narrative. This looping of what are essentially video collages also affords viewers repeated opportunities to parse Brambilla’s dense imagery. In Evolution (Megaplex), elements were sourced from between three and five-hundred mostly B-list films. This celebration of visual excess is also behind Brambilla’s choice to present the work in 3-D, a technology that was once the latest in a long line of Hollywood gimmicks. Evolution (Megaplex) is an exploration of the role that cinematic vision has played and continues to play in reshaping how we visualize our present and remember the past.

Label from Screen Play: Life in an Animated World, June 20–September 13, 2015