From Silicon to Pixel: Exploring the material origins of the simulated image

This paper will use ideas from the Geology of Media (Parikka, 2015) to explore how animation can be traced back to particular geographic locations via the materials involved in their construction. This will be elucidated via reference to my own practice, which includes an animated simulation of a silicon mine in North Carolina that supplies Intel raw silicon for micro-processor manufacturing. This work attempts to create a direct link between an animated landscape and one of its many real-world material origins.

The paper will be based upon my recently completed PhD thesis and practice-led research which uses animation to open up ideas about media, time, materials and the environment. Within the thesis I explored the relationship between the recalcitrant characteristics of the computer simulated image in the context of geology and more broadly, the Anthropocene.