Taking Stock - Difficult Decisions

Following best efforts from the team involved in the making of Continuum we had to pull the work from the Science Festival program at the 11th hour. This decision was not taken lightly but the quality of the video edit as it stood simply wasn't good enough to be shown.

Nick and Ben have made a beautiful soundscape and with new editor Andrzej Wojtas on board renewed energy has been brought to the project.

We hope that Continuum will show in the near future at Centre for Life, the space for which it was originally conceived. However, in the meantime the work will show at the British Association of Planetaria (BAP) conference at Intech, near Winchester in May. Chris Hudson of Centre for Life will be making a presentation about art in domes and he has secured a spot for the work.

Special thanks to Chris for his ongoing support for the project.

Newcastle Science Festival 2010 Brochure

View the full Science Festival brochure here

Mutations Shoot (Day 2)

Images: Daniel Barella

Mutations Production Stills

Images: Daniel Barella

Mutations Shoot (Day 1)

Images: Aaron Blenkin

Images: Daniel Barella

Special thanks to everyone who helped out during the preparation and on the day:

Ian Bailey, camera

Daniel Barella, documentation

Aaron Blenkin, assistant (camera) and documentation

Jo Brossman, costume design

Satinder Chumber, special effects make up

Wendy Erickson, movement research and director on the shoot

James Froment, lighting consultant

Jenny, assistant (make up)

Paul Kemp, camera grip

Fiona Wright, movement research and mentoring

Designer Bodies

New work Continuum will premier at the Designer Bodies event during the Newcastle Science Fest 2010, for more information click here

The Sweet Spot

Above are some examples of Fulldome master images showing the level of distortion required to compensate for the 36o viewing experience in the planetarium dome. The 'sweet spot' is the name given to the spot between 35 - 45 degrees from the bottom front of the hemispherical viewing screen in a planetarium with a forward facing arrangement. This is the natural focus for the eye of the viewer and can be used and manipulated in the production of the work.

Recording at Newburn Surgery

Ben, Nick and me took up residence in Newburn Surgery for a day to gather sounds created by the body using their medical equipment. Working with microphones and equipment on loan from Culture Lab, Newcastle and with direct recordings made by the fetal ultrasound doppler machine.

National Space Centre - Continuum Research Trip

Chris, Ian and me visited the National Space Centre in Leicester to conduct research for the Continuum project. We met with Paul Mowbray, the director of NSC Creative, the department responsible for creating high end computer generated fulldome animations for planetariums worldwide. Paul very kindly offered his time to run through a couple of nagging questions about the shift from flat plane video to the hemispherical immersive environments of planetarium screens. The meeting also gave us the opportunity to watch some of the teams productions on their planetarium screen, which is even bigger than the one at Life, measuring a whopping 60 ft in diameter - it's huge! The experience was different again from that of previous planetariums I had visited. I realised that taking this work on from Life could be tricky, especially when it comes to defining the 'sweet spot' and mixing the soundscape.

The Planetarium

Images of the Planetarium space at Centre for Life by Nick Able.

Triparks Preview - ACAdovetail

Exhibition featuring work by a great bunch of artists, who I got to know through my time on the Triparks residency: Karen Guthrie, Bridget Kennedy, Volkhardt Müller, Hugh Nankivell and Harald Smykla.

Continuum - New Work for Newcastle ScienceFest 2010

Exploring notions of beauty and the struggle for perfection, 'Continuum' peers through the looking glass into another world, somewhere between the familiar and the the unknown, where the body is transformed.

I am developing a new video work for Newcastle ScienceFest 2010. the work will be specially adapted for the unique setting of the planetarium at Newcastle's Centre for Life. Shooting will begin at the Lab Space at Dance City in January with Ian Bailey (Darkeye Digital)

The work has been in the planning for some time. It marks the first outcome of over a year of research, which has included residencies with the Medical Research Council, Virology Unit (Glasgow), Allenheads Contemporary Arts (Northumberland) and Dance City (Newcastle).

I have been working with Chris Hudson (Public Engagement Technical Coordinator) at Life to figure out logistics of creating Fulldome video for the hemispherical surface of the planetarium. We plan to visit the National Space Centre in Leicester to meet with Paul Mowbray in their creative department and talk about some of the technical aspects of this form of creation. National Space Centre Creative are responsible for some of the most innovative Fulldome productions, view some trailers here.

A specially created 5.1 surround soundscape will be commissioned by Nick Able and Benjamin Freeth. We hope to gather sounds from the body using specialised microphones and to blend these with synthesised elements to create an atmosphere that will both inform and respond to the visuals.

Review of INX

Click here to view a review of INX by Claire Rousell on a-n interface.