No.6 Pixel-Shift

Pixel-Shift, 2012


Traffic Control Center Flüelen,
Area XI: National Road A2: Airolo – Beckenried
National Road A4: Flüelen – Küssnacht

24-hour recording with computer-controlled SLR camera,
one image per minute, total 1440 images
from 0:00 to 23:59, March 31, 2012

Commissiond by Juri Steiner for the 100 year jubilee
exhibitions of usic: L’Union suisse des sociétés
d’ingénieurs-conseils



Pixel Shift was commissioned on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Swiss Association of Consulting Engineers and was part of an exhibition touring three different venues. It is a two-sided wall installation. One side of the wall shows a twenty-four hour recording of the traffic control center in Flüelen, which doubles as the local police station. It controls the traffic signals and the lighting on the two highways passing through the Gotthard tunnel and electronically monitors several tunnels. An electronic image analysis can detect letter-size objects by means of color analysis. If the color of the several adjacent pixels suddenly and permanently shifts, an acoustic signal alerts the officers in the control center, and several cameras are turned onto the event. On the other side of the wall, twenty-four abstract single images are shown in a three by eight grid as well as a timeline with the schedule of the control center, the recording process, weather and temperature changes, and traffic reports.

There are three versions of Pixel Shift. Version 1 is a two-sided wall installation. Version 2 is a framed inkjet print with production details and the timelines printed on the white border. Version 3 is a framed inkjet print of the abstract images in a grid.