About Rachel
Rachel Guardiola is an interdisciplinary artist and naturalist. Her studio practice investigates the intersection of art, science, and technology with a focus on the human relationship to wilderness through lens based analog and digital media. Rachel has exhibited internationally with List í Ljósi, The Halide Project, Rhizome DC, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Wassaic Project, Analog Cookbook, Dakar Biennale de l’Art Contemporain, Sydney College of the Arts, Light City Baltimore,… more
VEGA Project Bio-MYNE
2016. Installation, video performance from live stream. 4 min. 32 sec.
This performance was originally presented as a one hour live stream from a remote location. The performance includes rituals and horticultural activities conducted by Madam VEGA, cyborg and bio-pirate belonging to an ongoing fictional narrative on an other earth planet.
Mementos
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Mementos of an Investigator2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
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Mementos of an Investigator2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
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Mementos of an Investigator2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print) 20 x 24"
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Mementos of VEGA2019. diptych; unique chromogenic color prints (darkroom prints). 20 x 24" each
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Mementos of VEGA2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
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Mementos of VEGA2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
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Mementos of VEGA2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
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Mementos of VEGA2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
Other Earth Archives
An archivist from the future excavates artifacts from an alternate planet. The archivist pieces together visual content presented as arrangements in trompe l’oeil view that reveal the ecology, inhabitants, behaviors, and physical laws that govern terrain free of human presence. The edition is an ongoing archeology constructed through surrealistic photo montage techniques that combine film, digital negatives, object, text, photogram, and scientific vernacular into fantastical compositions that tell a history of the an alternate terrain, metaphor for explorations between biology and gender politics.
A Hand Without a Horizon is Taller than its Other
A Hand Without a Horizon is Taller than its Other is a film compiled from footage captured while exploring on foot the Arctic Circle. The film follows the discoveries of a time traveling investigator as they explore an unknown planet, utilizing the lens to switch between first person perspective and that of an objective onlooker observing the desolate panoramic landscape. The film is digitized and displayed on a CRT television alongside an edition of photographic prints that explore the sites in the film.
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A Hand Without a Horizon is Taller than its Other2016-17. 8 mm film. 3 min. 55 sec
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Untitled (WIP)2019. diptych; unique silver gelatin prints. 20 x 24" each
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Untitled (WIP)2019. unique silver gelatin print. 8 x 10"
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Untitled (WIP)2019. unique silver gelatin print. 8 x 10"
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Untitled (WIP)2019. unique silver gelatin print. 8 x 10"
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Untitled (WIP)2019. unique silver gelatin print. 11 x 14"
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Untitled (WIP)2019. unique silver gelatin print. 11 x 14"
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Untitled (WIP)2019. diptych; unique silver gelatin print. 4' x 6'
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Untitled (WIP)2019. diptych; unique silver gelatin prints. 4' x 6'
The Adventures of the Investigator & Madam VEGA
2016-present. video performance series
From October 2016 to January 2017, I conducted a four month stint of travel in the Arctic Circle during the period of darkness, when the sun sinks below the horizon. During this time, I wandered remote landscapes where I began to develop a fantastical narrative. The video performances exhibit different time traveling characters that explore an alternate planetary environment prompted by sensorial responses to the environment that occurred during the act of physical exploration. Characters perform different activities based upon their own specialized mode of understanding the universe through sense and logic. Since the initial visit, I have returned and continue to work at specific sites on this ongoing project.
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Measuring a Mountain2016-17. video performance. 1 min. 33 sec.
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Testing the Vibrations of Water2016-17. video performance. 3 min. 24 sec. guest performance by artist Kristín Sigurðardóttir
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Snow Swimming, Navigating Fallen Sky2016-17. video performance. 40 sec.
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The Distance of Water2016-17. video performance. 58 sec.
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Madam VEGA's Cabbage Patch2016-17. video performance. 1 min. 48 sec. code: 4883
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Measuring the Gait of the Lost 'Arctodus simus'video performance still
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Echolocations of an Ancient Seavideo performance still
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VEGA Infiltrates Leftover Lab Part Ivideo performance still
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VEGA Infiltrates Leftover Lab Part IIvideo performance still
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Excavating the Golden Ribsvideo performance still
Cryptoflora Viewing Boxes + Archeologies of VEGA's Garden
Four viewing stations offer glimpses into the propagation room and workstation of Madam VEGA. The videos are made barely accessible and are positioned at different heights to give off the feeling of observing something hidden, or peering at acts done in secrecy. Aromas of fantastical plants subject to experimentation can be smelled from within.
2018. chromogenic color prints (darkroom prints). 20 x 24”
These images display horticultural glimpses of various flora in Madam VEGA’s garden. The images are made by transforming a living greenhouse set into views of an otherworldly forest through multiple exposure, additive color mixing, and experimental color darkroom processes. Madam VEGA is a horticultural pirate and keeper of a hidden garden where she is re-propagating extinct species on a desolate planet.
(works exhibited together)
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How to Pollinate a Hybrid2017. video, viewing box, oils extracted from various native and plant species. 39 x 15 x 15"
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Cryptoflora Viewing BoxesPetri Germination Methods for an Extinct Flower Somniferic spuomel var. officinalis Common Name: Sleepy Spitting Honey Flower 2017-18. video, viewing boxes, oils extracted from various plant species. 60 x 15 x 15" Video: https://vimeo.com/250699298 Artificial Hybridization Survival Techniques Nigellapiper chitin Common Name: Exoskeletal Fat Pepper Plant 2017-18. video, viewing boxes, oils extracted from various plant species. 48 x 15 x 15" Video: https://vimeo.com/252271397 Assisting an Asexually Reproducing Plant Nymphaea hermamusa Common Name: Spotted Epicenic Water Lily 2017-18. video, viewing boxes, oils extracted from various plant species. 36 x 15 x 15" Video: https://vimeo.com/256592091 photography courtesy of Arlington Arts Center
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Petri Germination Methods for an Extinct Flower(detail) Petri Germination Methods for an Extinct Flower Somniferic spuomel var. officinalis Common Name: Sleepy Spitting Honey Flower 2017-18. video, viewing boxes, oils extracted from various plant species. 60 x 15 x 15" Video: https://vimeo.com/250699298
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Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
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Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden2018. diptych; unique chromogenic color prints (darkroom prints). 20 x 24" each
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Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
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Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
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Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
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Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
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Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden2018. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
Other Earths
Other Earths is a collection of photography functioning as artifacts that explore an ambiguous future past universe. Color negative, non-camera, and experimental darkroom processes combine different imagery into invented compositions of other planetary landscapes.
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Figure 322014. diptych; archival pigment prints. 24 x 30" each
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Specimen #25182014. archival pigment print. 27 1/2 x 40"
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Terrain IV2014. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
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Terrain V2014. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
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Terrain VI2014. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
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Terrain X2014. archival pigment print. 24 x 30"
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Terrain IX2014. archival pigment print. 24 x 30"
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Terrain VII2014. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
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Terrain I & II2016. diptych; unique chromogenic color prints (darkroom prints). 20 x 24" each
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Figure. 332014. archival pigment print. 30 x 30"
Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
The projection is adapted to the architecture of each site to create an immersive environment.
The projection is presented with objects and text that function as signifiers to the landscape in the film. The objects in vitrines are situated between the projection source and wall to obstruct the pathway of light. As a result silhouettes are cast upon the projection and imagery from the projection is dispersed around the space to create an environment for the narrative to be experienced. The work at large is activated by the viewer as they physically navigate and piece together clues that unfold the history. The physical act of exploration plays a significant role in my practice, utilizing the mechanical functions of the camera to mimic the means in which the body relates to its environment. The perspective, sequence, and rhythm in which technology is used, relates back to a reference point of the universal onlooker navigating an future past topography.
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Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)2015. 16 mm film, video, projection, hand cranked optical soundtrack, vitrines, objects. 5 min. 30 sec.
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Intro the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)2015. installation shot KAGRO
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Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)2015. installation shot KAGRO
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Intro the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)2015. installation shot KAGRO
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Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)2016. installation shot Light City Baltimore National Aquarium
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Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)2015. 16 mm film still
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Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)2015. 16 mm film still
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Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)2015. 16 mm film still
Isle of Caprona
This full length film contains original and appropriated 16 mm film that is spliced together and treated with a variety of mark-making, paint, and alternative darkroom chemistry. The camera presents a first person perspective of the alien other examining a fantastical landscape neither before or after human civilization. Inspired by the novel The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Caprona is identified as a lost island where every stage of evolution occurs at once. Analog formats are used based upon my interest in the transformation of substances, and ability for them to reference shifting periods of time; materials that reference the past, while also holding a possibility to withstand digital remnants in the future.
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Isle of Caprona2014.16 mm film stills
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Isle of Caprona2014. 16 mm film
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Isle of Caprona2014.16 mm film still
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Isle of Caprona2014.16 mm film still
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Isle of Caprona2014.16 mm film still
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Isle of Caprona16 mm film still
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Isle of Caprona2014.16 mm film still
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Isle of Caprona2014.16 mm film still
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Isle of Caprona2014.16 mm film still
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Isle of Caprona2014.16 mm film still
Adventures of an Investigator & Madam VEGA
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Adventures Series2018. archival pigment print. 32 x 32"
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Adventures Series2018. archival pigment print. 32 x 32"
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Adventures Series2018. archival pigment print. 32 x 32"
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Adventures Series2018. archival pigment print. 32 x 32"
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Adventures Series2018. archival pigment print. 32 x 32"
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Adventures Series2018. archival pigment print. 32 x 32"
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Adventures Series2018. archival pigment print. 32 x 32"
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Adventures Series2018. archival pigment print. 32 x 32"
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Adventures Series2018. archival pigment print. 32 x 32" * permanent sound sculpture 'Tvísöngur' by Lukas Kühne