CMYK WALK IN THE WOODS,

or: An Evening Flourescent Pinkness in the midwest,

or: The Structural System Deprogramming Codex,

or: 40.12628439756235, -88.21342433906035

CMYK Walk In The Woods is an experimental hybrid of animation, comic, and art book that reconstructs a walk through Busey Woods, a small nature preserve in rural Illinois. The animation features 1,200 sequential compositions drawn from a three-color risograph printing process, running at 8 frames per second for a 2:30 loop. Over 360 specific plants, birds, clouds, and human-made structures populate the sequence, rooted in meticulous research and a taxonomy of local flora.

The work examines embodiment, perspective, and systems of organization through its iterative process. Each of the 150 printed copies was hand-sorted from nearly flawless to profoundly misaligned, foregrounding the tension between mechanical and human imperfection. Risograph printing, which is biodegradable, tactile, and inherently flawed, serves as both medium and metaphor, emphasizing impermanence and the struggle to articulate. The final animation consists of the first and last book in the print sequence, its frame rate shifts over the course of the film, oscillating past the speed of perceivable motion.

The animation interrogates gaps in perception, language, and knowledge. Inspired by Ian Hacking’s “Looping Effect” and Nick Sousanis’ concept of triangulation in Unflattening, it asks: how do we understand wordless experiences, and what emerges from misalignment—of colors, frames, or selves? 

The animation originally premiered on a 190-foot ceiling display, The Canopy at 900, in 2023, and will be exhibited at the Museum of the Moving Image in March of 2025, and part of an installation at The Krannert Art Museum in April 2025. It has been released on VHS.

CMYK WITW was developed for the canopy at 900, an immersive digital ceiling display at 900 N Michigan Ave. in Chicago Illinois.