Strangers in Space

Digital art created using PowerPoint and a Samsung compact camera, imagining an encounter between two similar but dissimilar geometric forms.

Certain variations in the image draw on the way small random or unique elements in a repeating pattern can add to its beauty. An example of this – and one that I drew on for this piece – can be found in Royksopp and Robyn’s song 2014 Do It Again. This pounding electro-gem finds a woman contemplating starting a past relationship again. The lyrics and the dance beat combine to create something that sounds highly sexualised. Then, at about 2.16 minutes into the song, Robyn sings the word again in a whole new way, sounding desperate and vulnerable (and reminding us that this is the woman who sang the damn near perfect With Every Heartbeat). Suddenly the whole song is humanized and the feelings its describing become more ambiguous and universal.

Hopefully, certain elements in Strangers in Space humanize what is in some respects a very abstract piece. It’s meaning is, of course, whatever you choose it to be.

Let’s do it again soon.

Damian