Marcello Mercado
Variations Van Gogh
multi-channel installation systems
7-channel video installation, drawings, books, photography, sound sculpture, DNA – objects
6 m x 2,50 m 236.2 in x 98.4 in
2012–2015 / ongoing (updated 2026)
Grant for Media Art 2013 of the Foundation of Lower Saxony
at the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art,
Oldenburg, Germany
The artwork is no longer the object.
It persists as an archival structure under conditions of loss.
ARCHIVE – INSTALLATION
fig.00.Kunsthalle Osnabrück, European Media Art Festival, 2015
PERFORMANCE
1. Archive Variation:Hexadecimal compost
The yellow tones from Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings are extracted using a digital color sampling process in Photoshop. Each chromatic instance is transcribed as a hexadecimal (RGB) value, thereby translating pigment into numerical data. These values are then printed, shredded, and introduced into a composting system mediated by Californian red worms.
The resulting material, an accumulation of decomposed paper and organic residue, functions as a substrate for planting new sunflower seeds. This establishes a transformation sequence in which color becomes data, data becomes material, and material supports biological growth.
By converting pigment into code, code into fragmented matter, and matter into a biological substrate, the work operates on archival structures. The painting’s history is not preserved as a stable form, but rather decomposed and redistributed across material, computational, and biological states.
fig.01. Hexadecimal Compost: The Pipette, the Palette, and the Decomposition of Colour
fig.02. Hexadecimal codification of chromatic data (RGB values)
fig.03. The approximately 280 extracted yellow tones were materialized as printed swatches on paper,
subsequently shredded and subjected to a composting process mediated by worms.
fig.04. Hexadecimal compost
Fig. 05. Sunflower seeds, hexadecimal compost, and algorithmically reconstituted sunflowers
Fig. 06. Final installation: Object 1 — copper box 01 containing DNA preserved in test tubes and sunflower samples
Fig. 07. Final installation: Object 2 — copper box 02 containing six packets of hexadecimal compost
2. Archive Variation: Extraction of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid)
The DNA of the cultivated sunflowers was meticulously extracted through enzymatic protocols, each enzymatic sequence facilitating the dissolution of vegetal structures, allowing genetic material to be isolated and collected in test tubes—transforming the biological trace into an archival specimen at the intersection of organic life and media process.
fig.08. Extraction of sunflowers´DNA
3. Archive Variation: DNA Extraction (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) (DNA Performance)
The DNA of the cultivated sunflowers is extracted through enzymatic protocols. Each step facilitates the breakdown of plant tissue, allowing genetic material to be isolated and collected in test tubes.
The extracted DNA is preserved as a material record within the system, positioned between biological substrate and media process.
fig. 09. Biocuration: DNA Performance, Kassel, 2012 (basement, first floor, second floor)
4. Archival Variation: Satellite
The seven sunflower images are algorithmically transcribed into textual data and transmitted via satellite into outer space.
In this variation, the paintings are converted into text-based information and displaced from the pictorial domain to an orbital transmission system. The images are no longer maintained as visual entities; they are reformulated as data streams.
This operation establishes a condition in which archival material is processed through transmission rather than storage. The work does not preserve the image; it redistributes it across a non-terrestrial communication infrastructure.
The project references NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which included a public call (#WeTheExplorers) inviting global participants to submit images and data to be embedded in a digital archive aboard the spacecraft. This context situates the work within existing frameworks of planetary-scale data circulation.
Within this variation, Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings are treated as elements of a speculative archive. Their visual form is converted into textual information and transmitted beyond Earth’s atmosphere, extending the system into a non-local domain.
fig. 09. Variation Satellite
fig. 10. Variation Satellite
fig. 11. Variation Satellite
fig. 12. Variation Satellite
fig. 13. Variation Satellite
fig. 14. Variation Satellite
fig. 15. Variation Satellite
fig. 16. Variation Satellite
5. Archive Variation: Searching the yellow colour
In this variation, aerial data acquisition is used to identify and extract chromatic distributions associated with sunflower fields. The landscape is processed as a dataset, where color is not observed but measured, mapped, and translated into spatial and computational coordinates.
The resulting data does not reconstruct an image. It produces a topological model in which chromatic information is distributed across a mapped terrain.
fig. 17. This part of the project was realizefig.10.Soest, The Netherlands: Work zone
The objective of this variation was the conservation and storage—for future generations of artists—of the Dutch yellow tonalities as they might have been perceived by Van Gogh himself.
Two drones conducted aerial surveys over an area of approximately 20 hectares near Soest, The Netherlands, collecting nearly one terabyte of ortho-photographic data to construct a comprehensive 3D mapping project.
This endeavor was not solely concerned with capturing yellow hues; it encompassed a broader attention to color saturation, luminosity values, vibrational qualities, and chromatic contrasts within the total environment—trees, soil, water, reflective surfaces—situating Van Gogh’s palette in an ecological and atmospheric context.
The drones were programmed to associate specific altitudes with precise hexadecimal values corresponding to Van Gogh’s sunflower palette, effectively scanning and filtering the yellow tones vertically:
Example correlation:
-
10 cm → #8B8B00
-
20 cm → #EEEE00
-
30 cm → #FFD700
-
etc.
The fusion of ortho-photography and topographical mapping yielded a 3D archival model—a digital topography of yellow tonalities—serving as both an artistic artifact and a speculative repository.
The accompanying soundscape consisted of a synthetic voice systematically reciting the 280 hexadecimal codes derived from Van Gogh’s sunflowers, transforming numerical color data into an acoustic register.
Example: “Number sign eight B eight B zero zero” (where “number sign” denotes the symbol #, also known in German as Doppelkreuz or Raute).
The resulting digital model was preserved as a “Van Gogh Perceptive File”, an archival construct designed to be retrievable in scenarios of environmental degradation, climate change, planetary catastrophe, or profound alterations in the qualities of light itself—a poetic gesture toward future conditions of perception.
fig.18. Soest, The Netherlands: Work zone: Drones view
fig.19. 3D Model and mapping
fig.20. 3D Model and mapping
fig.21. 3D Model and mapping
fig.22. 3D Model and mapping
6. Archive Variation: Virtual tour of the cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise, France (Google-Earth Interface-Performance)
Virtual navigation of the cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise using the Google Earth interface.
Access is restricted.
A boundary condition is encountered.
The system produces anomalies:
– Incomplete visual data
– Interface interruptions
– Automated notifications (“user not updated”)
– Repetition of the name “Van Gogh” across mapped locations
The image is not accessed directly.
It is mediated through interface constraints and data gaps.
Sound is generated through the conversion of chromatic data into text and synthetic voice.
Archive Method: Interface traversal
fig. 23,24, 25. Van Gogh’s grave. Auvers-sur-Oise, Francefig.19.Van Gogh’s grave. Auvers-sur-Oise, France
fig.20.Google street glitches
7. Archive Variation: Conversion to Sound and 3D Print
Seven images of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers are processed through sonogram software and converted into sound data.
Image → sound.
No visual output is maintained.
The work operates as an acoustic archive.
Archive Method: Sonographic translation
fig.26. Software: Virtual ANS: A Software simulator of Synthesizer ANS
B. The seven sound archives were combined and transformed into a single 3D object in real time, translating sonic information into spatial form.
C. The resulting 3D object was materialized as a physical artifact, produced in plastic using 3D printing technology.
fig.27. 3D-Sound-Object printed on plastic
D.
Sunflowers images were transformed into sound and subsequently reconstituted as new images, completing a cycle of translation between visual and acoustic forms.
fig.28.Sunflowers images were transformed into sound and subsequently reconstituted as new images, completing a cycle of translation between visual and acoustic forms.
fig.29.Final installation: Object 3, a copper box containing a 3D sound object accompanied by three sound-glitch photographs.
8. Archive Variation: Notations
Musical notations generated by robots and inscribed onto staff paper.
Graphic scores produced through automated processes.
Mechanical inscription replaces manual writing.
Title: The Variations Van Gogh Opera
Publication: Van Gogh Variations: Compositions for Small Motors and Robots (2014)
82 pages, 20.5 × 25.5 cm, 500 g
Archive Method: Automated inscription
fig.30. “Van Gogh Variations: Compositions for small Motors and Robots”,
82 pages, 20,5 cm x 25,5 cm, 500g, 2014
fig.31. “Notations – Van Gogh Variations: Compositions for small Motors and Robots”, 2014
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Parts of The Variations Van Gogh Opera:
01.Das Gelb in der Ferne. Larghissimo
(01. The yellow in the distance)
02.Ich sehe Zeichnungen. Andante
(02. I see drawings)
03.Charles Bargue und Jean-Léon Gérôme Duett. Appassionato
(03. Charles Bargue and Jean-Léon Gérôme Duet)
04.Arie der Besucher. Agitato
(04. Aria of the visitor)
05.Vincent Monolog. Pesante
(05. Vincent monologue)
06.Abschied von Arles. Lacrimoso
(06.Farewell to Arles)
07.Todesmotiv. Lento
(07.Death motif)
08.Finalterzett. Trionfante
(08.Final trio)
09. Archive Variation: Language – Code
9. Archive Variation: Language – Code
The seven Sunflowers paintings are transformed into text and translated into an invented language.
Alphabetic conventions are suspended.
The system operates outside standard encoding structures.
The output is not readable.
It persists as a residual code state.
Archive Method: Non-standard encoding
fig.32, 33. “Seven sunflowers deleted”, 60 pages, 25,5 cm x 20,5 cm, 500g, 2014
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10. Archive Variation: Van Gogh’s Sunflowers – 115 Variations
Book containing 115 hand-painted variations in acrylic, ink, and oil, derived from the seven Sunflowers paintings.
No stable image is maintained.
The sequence accumulates through repetition.
Archive Method: Scriptorium
11. Archive Variation: Drawings
Three sunflowers are drawn by six robots using small motors.
The process is semi-autonomous.
No stable form is maintained.
The drawing operates as a trace generated by mechanical repetition.
Archive Method: Semi-autonomous robotic drawing
behind glass with 2 cm wide wooden frame, 75 cm x 65.5 cm x 4 cm, pencil on paper,
unique item, signed and dated on the front, 2014
behind glass with 2 cm wide wooden frame, 75 cm x 65.5 cm x 4 cm, pencil on paper,
unique item, signed and dated on the front, 2014
behind glass with 2 cm wide wooden frame, 75 cm x 65.5 cm x 4 cm, pencil on paper,
unique item, signed and dated on the front, 2014
12. Archive Variation: Diary
A book recording the project process and its variations.
The sequence is not stabilized.
The archive remains open.
Archive Method: Process log
13. Meeting Variation
In 1995, Theo van Gogh and Marcello Mercado were both included in the program of the FIPA Festival (Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels) in Nice, France. Theo van Gogh presented De Wanhoop van de Sirene; Mercado presented La región del tormento. A brief encounter took place.
This variation introduces a discontinuous relation between the name “Van Gogh” and the project. The connection is not genealogical. It is nominal, temporal, and contingent.
The event remains as a minimal record within the system.
14. Facebook Likes Variation
In recent years, I have “liked” paintings by Lieuwe van Gogh on Facebook. Lieuwe is the great-great-grandson of Theo van Gogh, Vincent’s younger brother.
The action is minimal. It does not produce an image or a material transformation. It registers a trace within a platform-based system.
The relation is mediated by naming and interface.
The work circulates as visibility
15. PDF Variation
Creation of a PDF document compiling the curriculum vitae of Vincent van Gogh.
File size: 61 KB.
The work is reduced to a minimal digital record.
The archive is defined by its weight.
16. Formula Van Gogh Variation
800+ paintings
1 sale
Production ≠ transaction
The archive exceeds the economy.
Archive Method: Economic discontinuity
Van Gogh’s anomaly—big production, minimal transactions—makes him uniquely suited to symbolize a “failure archive”: an accumulation of cultural output that exists almost entirely outside the artist’s lifetime economy, yet inside the collective imagination.
17. Variation: Meeting the Sunflower
I visited the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich and stood before Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers (Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers) (1888), temporarily on display from the collection of the Neue Pinakothek.
The encounter does not produce a new image.
It establishes a reference point within the system.
# Input: distributed records of the painting
# (images, scans, color samples, descriptions, reproductions)
def sunflower_protocol(archive):
chromatic_field = extract_yellows(archive)
structural_logic = detect_flower_distribution(archive)
degradation_model = simulate_loss(
color_shift=True,
data_noise=True,
fragmentation=True
)
uncertainty = allow_variation(threshold=»non-identical»)
instance = generate_image(
chromatic_field,
structural_logic,
degradation_model,
uncertainty
)
return instance
# Rule:
# The output is not a reconstruction.
# It is a valid continuation of the work.
fig.51.Photograph taken at the Pinakothek der Moderne (temporary display, collection of the Neue Pinakothek):
Sunflowers (Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers), Vincent van Gogh, 1888.
D. Installation Scheme
Variations Van Gogh (2014)
7-channel video and sound installation, color
Duration: 8 minutes (loop)
Display options:
– Seven LCD flat panels mounted on a shelf
– or projected onto seven walls in a dark, carpeted room
Channels are unsynchronized.
Amplified stereo sound.
Continuous loop.
A. Installation Scheme – Version 01
7-channel video installation (screens or monitors)
– 7 LED monitors, Full HD, 16:9, 46″
– 7 headphones
– 7 DVD players or equivalent playback devices
Environment:
– White walls
