I was again honoured to be asked to work with Marshmallow Laser Feast on a large scale Muti-installation work in a cemetery in Coventry. I worked on Tides Within Us, (first shown in York Mediale) and Oceans of Air (pictured below, overview video below that)
Mapping the journey of breath from different scientific and cultural perspectives, this multisensory narrative of epic proportions uncovers the living worlds both beyond and within us, to reveal the deep and beautiful truths that lie just outside the limits of our perception. The ambitious works will be located across the beautiful, tree-filled spaces and buildings of Charterhouse Heritage Park – Joseph Paxton’s Grade I listed cemetery and its arboretum. Observations on Being has been developed by Marshmallow Laser Feast in collaboration with artists James Bulley and Natan Sinigaglia and some of the extraordinary and influential scientists, writers and musicians who have inspired and informed their work. Contributors from the science community include; pioneering medical imaging innovators Fraunhofer MEVIS (who partnered on The Tides Within Us), Hae-jin & Jacob Marshall of EMBC, Nessie Reid of the Global Environments Network (GEN), ecologist and philosopher Dr David Abram, professor of Plant Soil Processes Prof. Katie Field, the author and biologist Merlin Sheldrake and holistic scientist Dr Stephan Harding.
Just found this video online, the only other ones were heavily edited. I made the sphere visuals, all timelined to LTC in my custom show control system. This project was the 3rd I have done with Ruggieri, the most intense fireworks I've ever seen, surrounded 360 by explosions!
Below is a screenshot of the interface of my custom made playback software
Another project with Marshmallow Laser Feast, a particularly mind bending installation.
Distortions in Spacetime by Marshmallow Laser Feast is as interactive audiovisual installation, in which the participants and their movements are reflected by particle systems to help them comprehend the cosmic connection between black holes, dying stars, and our very existence.
What would it feel like to step into a black hole? Prepare to be stretched, squashed and spaghettified as a spacetime singularity pops up in the 1830 Warehouse. Distortions in Spacetime is the latest sensory creation by cutting-edge audiovisual pioneers Marshmallow Laser Feast. Play among the particle jets and see the light as you journey through the depths of space and experience one of the biggest mysteries of the universe unravel all around you.
I was rather happy to be invited to help marshmallow laser feast complete their latest VR project. I've got the VR bug now!
The first chapter of Treehugger: Wawona is centred on nature's cathedral, the giant Sequoia from the famous Sequoia National Park (California, USA). Wawona is the (local Native American) Miwok’s word for ‘hoot of an owl’, imitating the sound of the Northern Spotted Owl - believed to be the tree’s spiritual guardian.
Participants are invited to don a VR headset, place their heads into the tree’s knot and be transported into the Sequoia’s secret inner world. The longer you hug the tree, the deeper you drift into ‘treetime’: a hidden dimension that lies just beyond the limit of our senses. Audiences embark on a journey of abstract visualisation, following a single drop of water as it traverses from root to canopy in these enormous living structures.
Treehugger is currently showing at the Southbank Centre, London for opening times please click on the following link - southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/117900-treehugger-2016
Credits:
Concept by: Marshmallow Laser Feast
Direction: Barney Steel, Ersin Han Ersin, Robin McNicholas
Collaborating Artist: Natan Sinigaglia
Executive Producer: Eleanor (Nell) Whitley
Senior Producer: Mike Jones
Senior Producer (US): Armand Weeresinghe
Production Manager: Mark Geary
Production Support: Cordelia MacDonald
Binaural Sound Designer / Sonic Artist / Audio Capture: Mileece I’Anson
Spatialisation Audio System Designer: Antoine Bertin
3D Designer: Harvard Tveito
VVVV Developers: Chris Plant, Tebjan Halm
Junior Developer: Laine Kočãne
Photogrammetry & VFX Supervisor: Scott Metzger
LIDAR Scanning & Photogrammetry: Mimic
Root System Modelling: Ironklad
Installation Technologist: Hayden Anyasi
Tree Fabrication: Octant Objects / Other Fabrications / ML Fabcuts
With thanks to:
Natural History Museum
Salford University
PNY
3Dception
The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York
Treehugger is commissioned by Cinekid Foundation, STRP, Southbank Centre and Migrations.
For Flatpack 10 this year, I showed Frequency Response #3, and also debuted Brian Duffy's new work Instead of Instead of Faint Spirit
For the past 5 years Brian Duffy (Modified Toy Orchestra) has been writing an analogue love letter to the memory of Trish Keenan entitled “Instead Of Faint Spirit”, using only a Roland System 100 monophonic analogue synth made in Japan in 1975. Brian describes it as “impossible to perform live” due to the hundreds of individual layers painstakingly overlaid on each track, so tonight he and Chris Plant will present a “live mix” of the album. Chris Plant will provide live visuals created using various vintage techniques, including a handmade analogue video synthesizer, circuit bent cathode ray televisions, laser lumia and other assorted oddities. Modern contraptions such as computers may be involved, but will be kept to a minimum, mostly as signal generators rather than image sources.
I used a mixture of Oscilloscope, both a standard scope with a camera to the screen, on which I produced vector graphics, but also some CRT televisions that I hacked into the coils to monitor the audio feeds Brian was playing.
I also created a video synth using VGA-VOLT a simple hack that wires into the RGB pins of a VGA cable, you send audio signals to create waveforms across the raster of the screen. It was a fascinating project that I'm going to continue exploring.
I was asked to join the project as developer and animator as they wanted to include 3d scans, brainwaves and other biometric data captured from the choir. So I oversaw the 3d shoots, wrangled the massive amount of data and we all got animating! Also fun was that the music wasn't recorded until 36 hours before the show so we had quite a mad rush edit and render, as well as the usually 3d mapping fun of fixing the model of the building when it didnt match up!
http://59productions.co.uk/project/the_harmonium_project
Another invitation from Strukt to work on a project in January led to a rather interesting project tracking, masking and projecting onto dancers and some mapped columns on the set.
Nespresso - "Pixie" Launch Event from Strukt Studio on Vimeo.
There is a making of on the Strukt page as well as some more photos
The project is also featured in Barco's Red Magazine issue 6
I was asked by 59Productions to do a quick project for them and their Digital Revolution installation at the Barbican Centre.
8 Layers of HD Video FX from the Paris bending dream scene were to be scrubbed through and composited together by the users hand using a leap sensor. The installation also had mirrors on top and below the screen to have an extra sense of immersion.
https://59productions.co.uk/project/digital-revolution/
Digital Revolution was the most comprehensive presentation of digital creativity ever to be staged in the UK.
This immersive and interactive exhibition brought together for the first time a range of artists, filmmakers, architects, designers, musicians and game developers, all pushing the boundaries of their fields using digital media. It also looked at the dynamic developments in the areas of creative coding and DIY culture and the exciting creative possibilities offered by augmented reality, artificial intelligence, wearable technologies and 3-D printing.
59 Productions led the media design for the exhibition working with a wide range of contributors and artists to create a variety of different pieces, including projection design, interactive pieces, apps and more.
Showcase moments for 59 included the ‘Digital Archeology’ projection wall, a multiscreen piece exploring digital culture highlights of the past 40 years. 59 has also worked closely with the teams from visual effects studios Framestore and Double Negative to realise exciting new installation pieces exploring the ground-breaking work on two iconic (and oscar-winning) films, Christopher Nolan’s Inception and Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity.
Both installations demonstrated how exhibitions must go beyond typical paradigms to showcase the innovation, depth and complexity of the work being done in new digital media, and created rich experiences for visitors that brought them into the world of visual and digital effects like never before.