GMU:Hallucinating computers and dreaming non-machines/Buba Beboshvili

https://vimeo.com/1096005655?share=copy

Buba Beboshvili

FLUX 2025

Experimental short film / Video installation

Duration: 07:00 min

FLUX is Fine Arts Diploma graduation project. That falls into the umbrella of the Project module “Hallucinating computers and dreaming non-machines”

Background information

Flux is an experimental short-film - exploring the themes of belonging, displacement and distant memory through the visual language of fashion, scenography, sound design and post-production. Set against a backdrop of shifting spaces and relationships, FLUX reflects on the repetitive nature of the human experience, where each transition brings both the possibility of belonging and the risk of alienation.Blurring the boundaries between the inner world of emotions and the outer realities of social life, the film offers a meditative exploration of identity in FLUX.

The project synthesizes the core conceptual threads that have informed my artistic practice to date. Rooted in an exploration of the human psyche, my work explores themes of memory, temporality, trauma, and the shifting boundaries between the conscious and unconscious - particularly as they materialize through desire.

Project in the context of the project module “Hallucinating computers and dreaming non-machines”

“Hallucinating computers and dreaming non-machines” module, I am particularly focused on the sequences of the film that involve post-production and visual effects (VFX). The film is composed of two vertical-ratio media streams placed side by side. one representing reality, and the other an overlapping escapist state of mind. These two dimensions gradually collide and interact throughout the film.

Using TouchDesigner, I am applying noise and displacement nodes to simulate or create “hallucinations” This process reflects how I use software to manipulate input media in a way that blurs the boundary between my consciousness and computer-generated imagery, effectively building a bridge between the two.

Touch Designer Tests and exports

To achieve the effect that was needed, I used Noise and displacement nodes. Shifting between Simplex 2D and Random. Since main editing was happening in Premiere pro - I was screen recording and adjusting the aspect ratio afterwards.

Premiere Pro - Cutting - Finding right rhythm - File for the video installation.

The process began with creating separate folders for the footage and TouchDesigner exports. I then created a mock-up editing sequence using a panoramic aspect ratio. After placing all the media, I started selecting the key moments, focusing first on identifying the right in and out points for each file.

The next step was finding the right rhythm between cutting and combining the regular footage with clips processed through TouchDesigner effects. That’s when I developed the idea of using the right side of the sequence to represent “reality,” while consistently placing the overlapping, effect-driven visuals on the left - mimicking a state of hallucination or escapism

The next step for the rhythm was the sound design that I developed with my collaborator - Claudius Seiter. I was doing field recording and imagining the rhythm or the idea that would fit with certain cuts

For the video installation, I decided to work with nested sequences. I created a master sequence containing two vertically arranged nested sequences, which allowed me to view and edit both timelines simultaneously. This approach was a lifesaver during the editing process. One nested sequence was dedicated to the TouchDesigner exports, and the other to the regular footage.

Left Sequence

Right Sequence

Master Sequence

technical description of the foreseen project

1. Project Title - FLUX
2. Brief summary of the project Flux is an experimental short-film - exploring the themes of belonging, displacement and distant memory through the visual language of fashion, scenography, sound design and post-production.
3. Software & tools used (TouchDesigner, Adobe Premiere pro, Indesign)
4. Video format and resolution (4K, vertical split screen, etc.)
5. Structure of the edit (nested sequences, dual-channel, timeline layout)
6. Installation setup (two vertically installed LED screen walls - each 200cm x 300cm)
7. Hardware requirements (not yet known)
8. Publication

A couple of references / Artists that inspired the origins of the project

Female Pentimento (Musician, Visual artist)

https://nr.world/female-pentimento/ Specifically their style of writing

Fiona Apple in a suit of armor on a NYC subway photography by Joe McNally (1997)

Joseph Haxan

https://www.gagprojects.org/joseph-h%C3%A4xan

Mark Cohen - Dark Knees Specifically his style of writing

https://www.lebalbooks.com/en/dark-knees

Some of the personal reflections from my phone app while working on the project

this film - an idea -  started in notes app / late summer of 2024

it took its next steps in Chicago

post in NYC

and post-post in Weimar / early spring of 2025

unknown street grids / passing cars / Fiona Apple by Joe McNally / heat waves and Sunday coffee with Ia / cicada-colonies buzzing above - non-human entities - moving between tress, delivering noise before dying off / trash and over-grown parks in Avondale / stranger’s face / late night notifications / dinted side-walks / car crush at the 7th turn / crying / mold-damp metro stations / Didion between announcements / Magdalena Bay in Pilsen/ Bus line 73 /  metal cutter / the sting of fluorescent light and little fragments that struck / car rides with Alex / glimpses of hope - I’d escaped something I carried just before leaving / new offerings. fresh fruit. an era.

the state that still crept in slowly, silently. A feeling I hadn’t yet named. One that hit me with the same suddenness as metro lights switching stations. Experiences that pushed me to loosen my grip. yet, in surrender, something primal kicked in - I built, or remembered, rituals, habits I thought long gone. little attempts to reclaim control over something that was never really mine to hold in the first place / skipped meals from day to sun-turn. dressed in layers, in armor or white nylon / sweat / regained control over self, my body, the gaze / reflection.

the shape of this project tuned into the film that looks at experiences - through a mix of psychological and cultural lenses. It asks how memory, identity, and trauma build inner worlds - quiet places of retreat, resistance, or renewal. The script unfolds through visual fragments, immersive and soft-edged, tracing pixels with evolving relationship to escape. A constellation of images follows the choreography - to survive the strain of existence. Through digital spirals, echoes, hyper-connective haze - escapism reveals itself as layered and alive: intimate and collective, protective and symptomatic.

the installation in a semi-public space - a monolith, a portal, a residue. Like remnants of me that drift in randomly, as you sit eating lunch on the stairs or pass through looking for your place. ratios - me, him - clashing, colliding, celebrating, separating, fighting, giving in.