Printed on ePaper

Your art here?

So, I have this screen on my wall. It's called the Philips Tableaux, and it’s a kind gift from Philips, a thank you for my participation to the Jury of the first MUSE Digital Art Award, which invited artists to submit images adapted to the device’s specifications, and engaging the topic of The Energy for Tomorrow. Here, you can see it in my home place, showing a screenshot from a software artwork by Kamilia Kard, A Rose by Any Other Name (2021, original here), and below with some of the works exhibited in the Award's exhibition in Milan, curated by Julia Rajacic. 

The Philips Tableaux is basically an ePaper screen that can display a stunning 60,000 colors. If compared to usual screens, it has a number of limitations. It can only display static images with a specific ratio; colors can change consistently - so some pics adapt to it better than others. Green is the least efficient color; electric blue - the defining color of digital technologies - turns into a warm ultramarine with a shade of black. Pictures are rendered on screen with a beautiful dither - which can be fascinating, but also frustrating if you love 3D renders' slick, shiny surfaces. 

Yet, it has some potential to explore as well. As any ePaper technology, it doesn't emit any light; and when the image is there, it stays on the screen when the power is off, too. Turn it off, unplug it, carry it with you on the streets, and you will still enjoy your digital image as if it were a painting, or a print, but in it's native digital form, with little or no carbon emissions. It’s to be used as a site specific place of intervention, rather than a “display”. That’s why I love to call it a Steampunk technology.

The Philips Tableaux is not commercially available yet, nor will it be anytime soon. I and the winners of the MUSE Digital Art Award have it. So, you may wonder, why this post? It's not paid advertisement; I'm not bragging about anything, either. Consider this a way to poke the artists and image makers in my network, an attempt to re-activate some sleeping nodes in my personal web. If you like the idea, feel free to send me an image: I will put it on the display and send you back a documentation image. If we both like it, we might post it on social media. Either way, it will remain this little exchange between you and me. No stress, no pressure, no deadline, no big comeback: just a way for you to test the screen and for me to turn it into a small private gallery, for my (guilty) pleasure, and to enjoy your company. 

Here we go with the specifications:

• Diagonal screen size: 25.3 inch

• Panel resolution: 3200 x 1800 pixel

• Aspect ratio: 16:9

• Image resolution: min 72dpi - max 300 dpi

• Orientation mode: portrait or landscape

And here, a more detailed dossier with additional examples and technical details.

Needless to say, I won’t claim ownership rights on the images you send me and I won’t put them in public display unless previously agreed.

Looking forward to see what you’ll send me. Thank you! 🙏 😊