REVISITED - Strip Tracing
by Markus Oberndorfer
A vital aspect of REVISITED, complementing the project’s conceptual framework, lies in the hands-on exploration of the media themselves — the materiality and mechanics of documenting space over time. While 360° video grants the spectator unprecedented freedom to navigate an environment, its creation remains bound by precise technical and procedural decisions. I mounted a 3D-printed camera cube holding six GoPros on a pick-up truck and drove the Sunset Strip along the same path Ed Ruscha traveled fifty years earlier, capturing multiple sequences - one for each directional axis - that were later stitched together in Autopano Giga. The reenactment posed technical challenges at the time, as easy-to-use 360° cameras were not yet available, but these challenges also offered an opportunity to reflect on how mediated technologies — in this case an equirectangular panorama collaged from six individual videos — shape temporal and spatial perception: the sequence of the ride, the direction of movement, and the framing of each instant define what is visible and, ultimately, what can be experienced.
Unlike a photograph or static collage, the VR experience immerses the spectator within a visual environment that reacts to their gaze, creating a phenomenological engagement that can evoke bodily responses. Looking backward against the direction of the ride, for example, can produce sensations akin to sitting in a car while someone else drives, with the body responding as if truly in motion. The viewer might feel a subtle apprehension toward potential hazards, as the body reacts to cues as if in a real situation — even though (or precisely because) the spectator is stationary, safely in an exhibition or at home. Experiences such as this, including the onset of motion-sickness, underline the interplay between physical presence, temporal sequencing, and perceptual interpretation — elements central to my practice as both a photographer and media-reflexive artist.
This hands-on exploration of 360° video not only allowed me to investigate spatial and temporal perception but also embodies the essence of continuing Ruscha’s approach: a considered transition from one medium to another that examines each based on the visual landscapes they produce. Applying the procedural concept of the accordion-fold book to 360° video emphasizes this dialogue, while situating the project fifty years after the original publication consciously highlights how visual technology and the experience of space have evolved.
Moreover, REVISITED extends the dialogue with Ruscha’s work by considering how technological advances over fifty years influence not only what can be captured but also how viewers perceive, interpret, and inhabit the resulting media. The decision to adhere to a driver-controlled timeline, rather than creating a static 3D environment derived from the 360° footage — a frozen scene that offers freedom of navigation but no actual movement — preserves a crucial parallel with Ruscha’s method while foregrounding the distinctions between photographic, filmic, and immersive 360° representations. Through this layered approach, the project interrogates the temporal, spatial, and experiential qualities of urban space, offering viewers a singular encounter with both the Sunset Strip and the media that document it.
The essence lies in the necessity of an artistically reflective transition from one medium to another — a shift that makes it possible to scrutinize both through the visual landscapes they produce.
This essay was written for “REVISITED”. Published in German, English & French. Condensed from an early documentation and project notes written during the initial stages of the project. For detailed early documentation from 2016 and technical notes showing the project’s evolution, see also In Dialogue With The Sunset Strip