Yugen is the title of a new moving-image artwork by Martha Fiennes, film director, writer and artist. In this piece, AI and creativity come together to produce a radical new medium of art which opens a realm of creative possibilities. With Salma Hayek as the leading figure, we are presented with a visual and meditative exploration into our perception of reality.
With her team, headed by Peter Muggleston, Fiennes brings to her art a substantial experience of filmmaking and visual effects technology to create unique works that are able to perpetually self-generate in a continuous and non-predictable ‘random’ cycle. This means that each viewing experience is spontaneous, unique and free to create its own continuous, ever-evolving non linear narrative.
In Yugen, Salma Hayek is Martha Fiennes’ muse and it is her character who dominates the screen. With music and sound produced by the award-winning composer Magnus Fiennes, the Yugen experience is akin to dreaming, hallucinations or out-of-body experience. We are led on a surreal and meditative journey, referencing both the ‘earth’ plane – or natural world, as well as evoking the idea of alternative dimensional realities, constructed in such a way as to appeal to the depths of the subconscious mind.
Through technology, technique and subject matter, Fiennes creates a dramatic and unusual evocation designed to stimulate the viewer at a subconscious level. Yugen is the first work to be registered on Art Records service developed by .ART. Art Records is the new international standard of art object identification on the internet. The service is based on Object ID standard developed by J. Paul Getty Trust and adopted by major law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Scotland Yard, Interpol, UNESCO and ICOM, among others.
