"Frankel characterized his and Greenstein’s time at the College, as well as their experiences in New York City, as formative in shaping such an interdisciplinary project. His most recent installation is also interdisciplinary: “Within the crowd there is a quality,” a 30-second video art project that now runs every 15 minutes across a 160-foot wide LED display in Moynihan Train Hall in New York as part of the Art at Amtrak program. His solo show of the same name opened on Nov. 1 at Hesse Flatow, a gallery a couple of blocks away from Moynihan, and displays paintings, a sculpture, and a couple of small videos.
“My new work … is obviously also interested in public space,” he said. 'The new work is about crowds and how we lose ourselves in crowds, for better or for worse, and I think that a public space like a train hall is an excellent place to explore that.'
To create this project, Frankel used footage of individuals walking in areas with vibrant New York street life that he shot a few years ago. He then identified 25 characters, including a dog and a pigeon, to create an ensemble, before isolating a single walk cycle for each ensemble member.
'Left foot forward, right foot forward, and if I take the two strides, then I can turn that into a loop and loop it forever,' Frankel said. Using his film background, he isolated how the character was moving through space — he likened it to walking on a treadmill — before adding controllable space back in. Based on this footage, Frankel then animated these figures by scanning drawings onto a computer and using code to orient their movements.
Frankel made sure to point out a subtle effect of syncopation in his work. 'There are all of these bodies, and they’re walking at different speeds,' he said. 'Over the course of the [installation] … their footsteps come into sync with each other and then fall out of sync.'"- Kiara Royer
