John Klima: Terrain Comparison
October 2001
John Klima: Terrain Comparison
John Klima’s Terrain Comparison, a split-screen 3D visualization, juxtaposes two landscapes of particular significance in 2001: the Donner Pass in the United States and the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan. The Donner Pass—a high-mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada and a symbol of westward expansion—was named for the California-bound settlers who in winter 1846 were stranded there due to heavy snow, leading to the deaths of almost half the group while others resorted to cannibalism to survive. The Khyber Pass, a key point on the ancient Silk Road, has long been a critical trade and military route. During the US-led war in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Khyber Pass was a major route for resupplying arms and food to American and NATO forces.
Users of this Gate Page can explore both mountain passes side by side, navigate them in 3D space, and zoom in. The topographies are generated using Klima’s geospatial visualization system EARTH (2001), which integrated real-time internet data and US Geological Survey maps. Klima’s work invites viewers to draw parallels between the two terrains on both a geographical and political level.
This project relies on Java applets, emulated through CheerpJ to run in modern browsers.
John Klima (b. 1965; Redondo Beach, California) builds large scale electro-mechanical installations driven by 3D game software he programs from scratch. He has exhibited his work extensively in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His project ecosystm, commissioned by Zurich Capital Markets, was shown at the Whitney as part of the exhibition BitStreams (2001) and his work EARTH (2001) was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial. In New York, he has also exhibited at Eyebeam, the New Museum, MoMA PS1, and the Brooklyn Museum. Klima has also participated in exhibitions at the Museum of Communication, Bern, Switzerland; the NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo; the Daejeon Municipal Museum, South Korea; and festivals including VIPER Switzerland; and the European Media Art Festival. More recently, Klima has focused on sound and music. In 2014 he founded Scratchbuilt Studios in Lisbon, where he has recorded countless musical and experimental sound projects, focusing on vintage analog recording equipment.
Gate Pages
Every month from March 2001 to February 2006, the Whitney invited an artist or collective to present their work in the form of a “Gate Page” on artport. Each page was meant to function as a portal to the artist’s own sites and projects. The Gate Pages comprise a range of artistic approaches to the format—while some of them are designed as entry points to the respective artist’s website or promote a recently launched work, others take the form of a more complex stand-alone project.
Wherever necessary and possible, these works are made functional through emulation and reconstructions from the Internet Archive. Not all of them have been restored to their original state and their conservation is ongoing. You can also view the original Gate Pages archive to see how they were presented at the time of their creation.
artport
View more on artport, the Whitney Museum's portal to Internet and new media art.