David Rokeby’s “Plot Against Time #1” 2007

“Plot Against Time #1” captures the traces of pigeons and pedestrians on Venice’s Piazza San Marco. Each moving thing etches itself across the surface of the image in a golden hue which fades as time passes through a ruddy brown to pure black before dissolving into the background. Static objects in the scene are subtly present in a patinated green tone. The pedestrians leave slowly fading Futurist motion studies behind as they pass. The pigeons’ movements create a shifting map of trajectories articulating their interactions with each other and the tourists they seek food from, diagramming the peculiar ecology of the piazza.