Sandy Island on Google Maps. © Luiz Zanotello, 2023

New Velocity (2015)

mixed-media installation (black sand, datasets, digital code, electronics, plywood, acrylic)

The New Velocity is a machine that digitally maps the phantom Sandy Island. By reproducing the same phenomenological conditions under which the island was seen in 1876, it attempts to reintroduce the mapping error that persisted in global maps until 2012. The machine records new datasets that support the island's continued existence by manipulating its digital presence. Piles of sand are scanned by an infrared proximity sensor that moves up and down over a platform, mimicking the movement of a ship at sea. The spatial data is mapped and visualized in real time. The machine operates in four different preset modes, one for each dataset it captures: shoreline coordinates, bathymetry, topographic elevation, and digital geotagging. Each dataset proves the presence of an island within its range and is subsequently uploaded to the Sandy Island open database for dissemination.

The project investigates a cartographic error that persists in cartographic maps even after the advent of digital media. It speculates on how data and physical phenomena are intertwined, and how the two carry equal weight in contemporaneity under digital media. The New Velocity explores how the phenomenon of Sandy Island only occurs at certain speeds, when piles of sand and piles of data have the same flawed consistency.

Documentation, installation view. © Luiz Zanotello, 2023

Sandy Island on Google Maps. © Luiz Zanotello, 2023

Installation view. © Luiz Zanotello, 2023

Acknowledgements: Developed as part of the MA program in Digital Media at the HfK Bremen, supervised by Prof. Dennis P. Paul.