MicroMacro (or Motorized vs Handheld) examines the fragile threshold between perception and scale, between the mechanical eye and the human hand. Filmed entirely by the artist in remote regions of northern Iceland, the work moves between two contrasting modes of seeing and experiencing: the expansive reach of aerial drone footage and the intimate, unstable proximity of microscopic imagery. Together, these perspectives trace a continuum from surveillance to touch, from estrangement and detachment to texture, vulnerability, and participation.
The landscapes in this piece are harsh, beautiful, and indifferent—spaces that resist habitation and deny comfort. Their unwelcoming nature evokes both awe and unease, foregrounding a tension between attraction and exclusion. Within this resistance, the artist locates a personal sense of dislocation: a recurring search for belonging in places that refuse it. Filming becomes a way of inhabiting, however briefly, terrain that cannot be possessed, mastered, or fully understood.
The motorized precision of the drone contrasts with the embodied instability of handheld microscopic footage, revealing two distinct modes of encounter. One is controlled, distant, and systematic; the other searching, tactile, and contingent. Their interplay opens a dialogue between control and surrender, technological mediation and intimacy.
Through its oscillation between the near and the far, MicroMacro (or Motorized vs Handheld) invites viewers to explore these shifting scales of perception.
Mona Kasra is an Iranian American new media artist, designer, and interdisciplinary scholar. Her research examines the political and theoretical implications of visual media technologies both within and across cultures, while her creative practice explores the expressive and improvisational possibilities of emerging media within contemporary art forms.
Kasra is an Associate Professor of Digital Media Design at the University of Virginia, where she teaches courses in digital art, projection design, and creative technology. Her artwork has been exhibited in galleries and film festivals across the United States and internationally. In addition to her creative work, Kasra has served as a juror, curator, and programmer for several exhibitions, festivals, and conferences. Her projection and interactive media designs for live performance have received two Helen Hayes Award nominations in the category of Outstanding Projections/Media Design.
