Bart Hess digitally blurs the lines between the real and the digital in a series of evocative sequences composed for skincare brand Aesop.

Dutch conceptual artist Bart Hess’ body of work reflects a mind envisioning the human body as potentially incomplete ? an optimal and personal platform for technological enhancements yet to be fully explored. His latest work, Epist?m?, a video installation produced for skincare brand Aesop, spans more than sixty meters, exploring the nebulous borders between the physical and the digitally-enhanced.

Hess’ fascination for depicting the body through the veil of technological advancement is explored as a poetic collection of scenography in Epist?m? ? the Ancient Greek word for knowledge and understanding ? an indirect evocation of Aesop?s line of skin, body, hair, and personal care products.
Color, movement, and form are combined with the ambient soundscape composed by Ricky van Broekhoven into various theatric sequences exhibiting the skin as a biological interface between body and the environment. Pieces of paper, layers of foil, julienne of film, and pools of watercolor are digitally manipulated, transforming real world movements and interactions into surreal time-lapse sequences.

Epist?m? traces similar territory explored by Hess in 2011 with the Dutch artist’s project, Echo, an analogous survey of space, body, and time repetitively animating physical materials via digital manipulation. Split seconds of...