The Influence of Coincidence

The Influence of Coincidence explores how random processes transform man-made visual expressions.

The motifs are small fragments of posters and stickers found in public spaces — material created with deliberate visual intentions, whether to advertise, persuade or simply attract attention. Once placed in the street, however, control over their appearance is lost.

Sun, rain and weathering begin to alter them. New posters are pasted on top, parts are torn away, surfaces are scratched, painted or written over. Each intervention responds to the moment rather than to what lies beneath, and gradually the original image is transformed by an accumulation of unrelated actions and events.

Within these worn and often chaotic surfaces, unexpected configurations emerge. Traces of the original may remain, while elsewhere the transformation is so complete that the result becomes almost entirely abstract. Forms, colours and relationships appear that no one intended, yet sometimes possess an unexpected beauty.

The Influence of Coincidence looks for these moments: the unintended imagery of the city, created through the interaction of human intention, time and chance.