Moments 2008 - 2009
‘Moments’ developed through participation in the prestigious e-MobiLArt project (European Mobile Lab for Interactive Artists) working within a multicultural, interdisciplinary context. 33 international artists were selected to work collaboratively in small teams to create interactive media artworks.
Activities included three week-long workshops and seminars in three different European countries (Greece, Finland and Austria) hosted by the University of Athens, the University of Lapland and the University of Applied Arts Vienna respectively.
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Outcomes included two exhibitions in two other European cities State Museums of Contemporary Art - Thessaloniki in Greece and Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, Katowice in Poland.
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'Moments' was developed working collaboratively with two other artists, Duke Albada (AUS) and Dave Lawrence (UK).
General Description
Moments is an art installation that asks you to pause for a moment … to contemplate.
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Through the medium of a real-time artwork, this installation works with contemporary technologies, imagery and sound to invoke 'meditative moments' or 'contemplative states', representative of and similar to those attained through the process of ‘Scrying’.
‘Scrying’ or ‘Divination’ is a practice that manifests itself across numerous cultures, ideologies and belief systems where through conscious and subconscious thought, visions, revelations or spiritual enlightenment can be obtained. The Scrying technique often requires a time of extreme concentration, in actuality inducing a state of meditation where the time line warps and other dimensions become visible allowing glimpses of the past, present or future.
The practice typically employs media that varies from crystal, glass, water (hydromancy), fire and other reflective and translucent surfaces and objects. In this case water has been chosen as a conducer, enabling sub-conscious happenings, occasions or emotions in the participant.
Installation Description
Similar to looking into a well of reflective water, the viewer peers into an illuminated water ‘vessel’, within a quiet and intimate space. The viewer's face is captured and they gradually see their own image reflected back, through the various layers of a water-based medium, water and mist. This imagery is then manipulated, fading in and out, at times mingled with past viewers faces and interactions and merged with imagery of real and computer-generated water until the faces gradually fade away, leaving the moving imagery of the water. This manipulated imagery is also accompanied by a multi-layered soundtrack, further inducing a relaxed state of consciousness.
Where the viewer is receptive, heightened states of consciousness and momentary spaces for contemplation arise, representative of and similar to those attained through the process of ‘Scrying’ as described above.
Technical Description
The final installation was housed in a darkened, enclosed space approximately 3m x 4m x 3m with the only illumination provided by the artwork, creating a tranquil atmosphere.
The object itself took the form of an enclosed, black, cylindrical structure, approximately 630mm wide by 1.2m tall placed in the centre of the space. The top of the cylinder was angled at approximately 15 degrees and contained a circular opening 400mm wide, forming a 'well' or 'pool' into which participants could peer. Surrounding the opening were high intensity, led lights to illuminate the viewer's face, controlled by the computer system and embedded within the inside wall of the opening was a miniature camera.
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Beneath the opening there was a purpose-built, clear Perspex cylindrical water tank, 600mm in diameter and 150mm high. Within the tank there was a cast disc of clear silicone, 400mm diameter and 40mm deep covered by water. Housed in the water there was a water atomiser, which created a layer of mist generally 20mm deep. The differing densities and nature of these elements created a three-dimensional layering of the imagery that was projected into the tank from beneath.
Within the lower part of the structure, a short-throw projector was housed and projected moving imagery onto the base of the clear tank. The installation was controlled by an Apple Mac Mini running Max/MSP/Jitter software together with some other specially written software, G-Vision, which handled image recognition (of faces peering into the opening of the object) and capture information. Additional hardware included specialized led drivers, a DMX lighting interface and Harman Kardon speakers enclosed in the base of the artwork, handling the specially composed soundscape.
Credits
State Museums of Contemporary Art - Thessaloniki, Greece and Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts - Katowice, Poland. Dissemination of the project’s results through related print (Leonardo Journal, exhibitions catalogues, workshop brochures, etc.) and electronic publications (Leonardo Electronic Almanac, YASMIN forum and Leonardo/OLATS web sites). The University of Athens, the University of Lapland and the University of Applied Arts Vienna. The e-MobiLArt Project was funded with support from the CULTURE 2007 Programme of the European Union.