Still image from Fractured Waves, Colton Hash 2020-2021
Colton Hash's Fractured Waves is an interactive exhibition that investigates the impact if industrialization on The Salish Sea and Lake Erie by utilizing data visualization. Each work presents varying data in regards to pollution and industrial infrastructure. This encourages viewers to reflect on our 'cultural relationships to specific landscapes' (Hash).
Fractured Waves is formatted as an online exhibition and is curated as a virtual rendition of the Artcite Inc. gallery space. Using this immersive online platform, viewers are able to interact with Hash's digital media works. In this exhibition, viewers are able to move through the digital gallery space, experiencing both animated visuals and dynamic soundscapes. When experiencing an individual work, the viewer is transported into the virtual space of the chosen work; leading to an immersive and safe experience in light of COVID-19.
Hash also presents the new multi-media artwork Prevalent Echoes (2021), 'a pair of data driven simulations which appropriate noise pollution from freight vessels in the Salish Sea and the Great Lakes.' Through the exploration of data, Hash forms geological bonds across different regions, exploring how 'these waterways are fragmented by industrial shipping and bisected by the US/Canada border' (Hash).
Hash's work successfully investigates the industrial impact on natural environments in both the Great Lakes and the Salish Sea. Through Fractured Waves, viewers will experience an immersive environment in order to access and consider the realities of industrial pollution and climate change in 2021.
Fractured Waves launches via artciteinc.ca on March 27th, 12pm (EST).
Colton Hash is an emerging artist who currently resides as an uninvited guest on Lekwungen territories of Vancouver Island. Hash’s multimedia practice is inspired by the wild and anthropogenic landscapes that surround him. Exploring environmental data as media, Hash strives to create accessible works for viewers to consider their cultural relationships with nature. Hash integrates science and technology through an intuitive process to create works that critically engage with industrialization and climate change. He was the inaugural artist-in-residence for Ocean Networks Canada, where he worked with scientists to create interactive data artworks that communicate ecological relationships. In recognition of his politically based practice, Hash received the Witness Legacy Award for Social Purpose and Responsibility Through Art (ProArt Alliance, 2019). Hash received a B.Sc. in Computer Science, Visual Arts and Environmental Studies and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Victoria.