Jasper Marsalis has made a contemporary landscape exhibition without travelling to photograph the landscapes himself.
In Still Life, currently at Chisenhale Gallery in London until 6 September 2026, a large screen displays live images drawn from unsecured internet-connected cameras around the world.
Lakes appear. Roads. Hills. Parking lots. Agricultural spaces. Occasionally animals or people pass through.
An algorithm changes which cameras are shown, so the sequence is never completely predetermined. Four suspended speakers simultaneously transform live FM radio signals into slowly changing sound.
I find the landscapes strange precisely because nobody seems to be composing them.
Traditional landscape painting selects a viewpoint.
Photography selects a moment.
Marsalis inherits viewpoints selected by cameras installed for completely different reasons, then allows weather, daylight and whatever happens to pass through the frame to determine the image.
Compression errors become texture.
A slow camera turns movement into jumps.
Nightfall happens according to the actual location of a camera thousands of kilometres away.
The gallery therefore contains images that are live but geographically absent.
This is almost the reverse of cinematic control.
Nothing waits for the filmmaker.
The world keeps happening and the artwork briefly tunes into it.
https://flash—art.com/2026/07/jasper-marsalis-still-life-chisenhale-gallery-london/
