Hypnotic (Leo Espinoza)
Video, 2023
About the artwork
A small voyage into a state of trance.
States of trance have been part of the human culture before civilization itself. In these states we can connect with the deepest parts of our minds, as well as far beyond corners of the universe, using our imagination as a mental telescope. It’s in these states of trance that our ancestors first encountered spiritualism, and our psychoanalysts, the subconscious. Sound Design by Leo Espinoza
Audio explanation
Listen to Leo Espinoza discuss this work.
Leo Espinoza is a Costa Rican audiovisual artist whose creative journey began under the influence of his father, an artist and art professor. He learned drawing, painting, and art history from a very young age.
In his teenage years, he developed an interest in music, learning to play the keyboards and later venturing into the world of DAW software and sound design. Digital video cameras were out of his reach, so his first contact with digital visual art was Photoshop. Leo's father's passing in 2018 prompted him to pursue his passion for filmmaking. From 2019 to 2023, he attended film school, mastering various aspects of the filmmaking process, from direction and photography to sound design and editing.
In his first year in film school, he became interested in video art. His challenge was the lack of a proper distribution system for this form of art. In 2021, he learned about NFTs and realized they offered a solution to this problem with a digital ownership system. In May 2023, he started experimenting with AI image and video generation tools, realizing the potential synergy between video art, NFTs, and AI.