Jon Stolzberg, a videowall pioneer with ten years' experience designing, producing and programming videowalls is attempting his own interpretive translation of Dante's Inferno in the medium he knows best: Videowall. Following is an excerpt from Jon's creative project. For more information on the Inferno Videowall Project, email Jon at jon9@vplex.com.

John recently completed work on a "Monet In the Mediterranean" Videowall now on exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Jon produces most of his work out of THUNDERGULCH at 55 Broad St. in NYC.

What is a TechnOntological Trip?

STOLZBERG: The subtitle of INFERNO: The Videowall is "A TechnOntological Trip to Hell and Back." The word "TechnOntological" refers to the videowall's ability to use technology effectively to explore fundamental issues of ontology, or being. The V-PLEX demonstrates how to use the extraordinary power digital multimedia technology to increase our existential understanding of ourselves and of each other. This goal was certainly one of Dante's interests in writing The Divine Comedy (of which INFERNO is a part.) In creating INFERNO: The Videowall, the ontological issues concerning the relationships between man and machine, between humanity and technology, are addressed implicitly in the very form of the videowall, and inform explicitly the structure and content of the piece.

Why choose INFERNO ?

STOLZBERG: There are several reasons why Dante's INFERNO has been chosen as the source for the content for the launch of the V-PLEX Videowall Network.

It is one of the greatest works of literature ever created and its interpretation through the V-PLEX will demonstrate the ability of the medium to capture the essence of a classic work and convey it in a form that is both intellectually satisfying and popularly appealing. In THE INFERNO, Dante deals with universal issues that are no less vital today than they were in the 14th century: what is the proper way to live? what is good and what is evil? why embrace good and reject evil? what is the role and responsibilities of the individual as a member of society? what is religion? what is the path to "salvation" and what does salvation mean? what is our relationship to time and eternity? INFERNO: The Videowall will use the substance of Dante's work to explore these issues as they relate to a contemporary audience. To create the trip through Hell described in the INFERNO in the 14th century, Dante used the cutting-edge technology of his time: the printing press. He wrote in the vernacular, Italian, rather than in scholarly Latin, an astonishing break from the practices of his time, and an indication of the artist's determination to reach a wide audience in spite of contemporary conventions. INFERNO: The Videowall, presented on the 39 screens of the V-PLEX, marks a departure from the conventions of commercial cinematic entertainment. The language of the V-PLEX is the new visual vernacular - a language of multimedia imagery created through digital processing; a vocabulary born on MTV and flourishing on the Internet; a language that speaks to the significance of the most important revolution in human communication sinceŠ the printing press.

Much has been written about the sustained relevancy of Dante's work to the religious and political systems of the time, and to the life of the artist himself.

"...one of Dante's most distinguishing qualities - in his imagery, his epithets, his choice of dramatis personae, his mythological and historical illustrations, his astronomical way of telling the time of day or night, his frequent harping on words, phrases, and ideas, his curious verbal devices, his varying moods as a pilgrim - is the quality of relevancy, relevancy, that is, to the moral and spiritual matter in handŠ these features as they come are not merely decorative, they are integral and are to be so interpreted. Their relevancy is their meaning."
John D. Sinclair from his Introduction to his translation of Inferno, 1939

The relevancy of the V-PLEX to the cultural life of the 21st century is part of the meaning of INFERNO: The Videowall. It's been almost a half century since the phrase "The medium is the message." was coined in response to the evolution of television from a novelty into a ubiquitous part of modern culture. It was no less true for Dante in the 14th century and, as we enter the new millenium with powerful new communications technologies at our fingertips, it is no less relevant today.

During the next five years, society will experience digital television (HDTV), DVDs, and computer/TV convergence on a mass scale, bringing futuristic esoteric technologies into the everyday lives of the masses. The compelling relevancy of INFERNO: The Videowall and the V-PLEX concept will become increasingly clear as this process unfolds.

Producing INFERNO: The Videowall will demonstrate the ability of the videowall medium to examine social issues with a degree of contextual objectivity seldom experienced in the current forms of media. Dante's poem addresses the specific political and social issues of his time without sacrificing the lyrical beauty or drama of his work as a whole. INFERNO: The Videowall will likewise draw associations to current political figures and institutions without becoming didactic or embracing a rigid political stance.

Hell reveals what society is when all its members act for themselves and against the common good. The souls here are condemned not just for their selfish motivations but also for the effects of their actions on others. Dante's point is that as civic beings, we are responsible not only for our actions, but also for their results. The people he presents were all men and women of prestige and/or power, people in a position to influence others either directly or by example, and in one way or another they all failed. The suffering, the violence, the anarchy of Hell are a result of their failure to act up to their responsibilities or their outright abuse of those responsibilities. Selfishness, greed for money, power, or pleasure, is the basis of the injustice that reigns in Hell, as charity is the basis of the justice that operates in heaven.

...The political side of Dante's message was clearly not foreign to contemporary readers. But the message of Hell is not unrelievedly negativeŠThe knowledge of evil in the self and the state, which Dante has described in such detail in Hell, should provide the means to begin the move towards a new self and a new society...
The Political Vision of the Divine Comedy, "The Corrupt Society" by Joan Ferrante

The goal of producing INFERNO is not to shock or disgust the audience but to hold up a mirror that extends through the many dimensions of time and to allow us to reflect upon the positive and negative aspects of human nature that manifest themselves in the individual and the state.