NEON- Heartbeater

Just back from another amazing neon spectacular! First of all I would like to thank Nilupul for such a warm and lovely evening. It was cozy and intimate with only a small amount of people who were all so kind and friendly. Firstly to describe this installation art, basically you are connected by your hands and feet and your movement controls and interacts with the audio/visuals. The piece is inspired by water, tranquility and peace giving off quite a meditative feel.Designed by composer Mattew Collings and artist Erik Parr, this installation is a sensation for the eye and ear. But what I espeically loved about this piece of art is that its not just used for neon, but Nilupul (where it was showcased) will be keeping "heartbeater" and using it classes and meditation purposes which I think is just so fantastic that a quite abstract piece is used in a really great way and not just for one week purposes.

At the beginning of the night, we were shown a short video of how the public interacted with "heatbeater". It was great seeing all the school children bouncing up and down and having such fun and interaction with quite an abstract piece. There were professionals for the evening that I was at and even though I do not want to doubt or offend their abilities but I much preferred the children and general public playing with it. Watching them, you could see the exploration in their minds and the adventure that they were on as it may seem just like fun to them, it was also expanding their minds to more than just maths and english. 

What I would have probably preferred with this installation would be if it was in a small encasing and you were on your own so it would become fully submersive to the user. Other than that it was a great night and I fully enjoyed the ways in which "heartbeater" connects with people on a different level to match their needs for it.

Here is an article that Nilupul posted on their facebook page :

http://www.facebook.com/nilupulfoundation

NEON- 100,000 Lux

WOW! Tonight was amazing! I am so glad Lynn mentioned this to me, it was great! Ok, so what was is it? Well it was a wacky combination of science, visual art, and sound design! Sound cool? They used the side of Abertay University which has a light system already built in to the exterior. The audio was in control of the visuals generating a colourful, bright and an equally engaging piece for the eye and the ear. What is really interesting is that this artwork was created by data collection from the solar dynamics observatory which programmers erin michno and ian reynolds used to create the spectacular visuals. Also involved was lecturers David Mactaggart and Antonia Wilmot-smith (Dundee University). The audio was created by Raz Ullah who is currently at Abertay studying his masters in sound design. The audio is very unique to say the least, I hope not to offend when I say that it reminded me of the old dial up tone you used to get when connecting to the internet. But as a whole it was very engaging for the eye and ear; the visuals where interesting and in sync with the audio. It had a very alien/spacey vibe to it which is what I really like about it as its inspirations/data technically originates from space so I think its quite cool that it gave off that effect. Over all I thought it was a brilliant exhibit of people from lots of different fields working together and taking something mathematical and numerical into something very beautiful

Here is a picture from Neons facebook page of the event ( I took videos and will upload them later)

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.517611701584027.121679.250366684975198&type=3&l=7e4b453583

Here is the video that I took (time lapse)

Illuminations - My review

So I talked a little bit about Les Illuminations before I left to go see it, but I am back andddd to be in all honesty, I was quite disappointed, and that's putting it mildly.

Ok so I arrive early so I can go along to the artists talk. Which I thought would be really good to learn how its done, her inspirations etc. She ended up talking more about the composer than what she was doing. She said that it is all live and that she "starts with nothing to show and endings with nothing to show". Which obviously isnt true, she must have SOMETHING at the beginning like a collection of footage that she will piece together and all the text ready. She said that she was going to use text to literally translate what the opera singing was singing (it was sung in french). I was interested at how she was going to display the text without it being distracting and still being able to see/ use the visuals.

So after an hour of amazing playing by the Scottish ensemble which I thoroughly enjoyed, it was time for the grand finale. Now, I am trying to be critical and talk analytically of her work in this part..but it will be very very hard. What was presented in front of us was a shambles of huge block text on top of stock footage looking visuals. Let me break it down a bit more;

The text was THEE worst aspect of the whole show. Instead of just maybe incorporating a few key words to give the essence of what the opera singer was talking about, but it was laid out in block form covering the entire screen. The worst thing was, was that she had not even taken into consideration the fact that the audience sat 4ft below the stage to the half of the words were unreadable from the Scottish ensemble. What really annoyed me about the text was that it wasn't even essential. I found myself having to choose between whether I wanted to try and concentrate on reading the text or watching and engaging the the opera singers vivid, exciting and animation voice which I believe conveyed what he was singing about on its on.

What Netia created with the text was a DISTRACTION. She said herself that she wanted to "compliment" "enhance" all these good words but what she did was create a distractions which totally defeated the purpose of her being there.

NOW, on to the Visuals. I have no idea if she took the visuals herself. I would hope and presume so but even if she did, they lacked originality and creativity. It's everything I have learned to run away from as a student; the footsteps in the sand, awful transitional layers, trees in the wind etc. I just honestly don't understand how on earth she has been doing this for 10 years.

So could she have done a better job if this was put together with more thought before the performance? Im not sure, as they musicians are playing live then there is a chance of the timing being off and they would have to be constantly watching to stay on time.

The concept of live visuals to live music is a great idea but I think this particular show was a bit disappointing  I was expecting more, but maybe where I do go from here is turn my disappointment into opportunity. It shows that there is a gap in the market for something new and fresh, its just no one has found the right balance between live and prepared work.

I shall come back and have a look at more of Netia's work and see if maybe this is just a one off slump but not now, Ive had enough for now.

Illuminations!

Real excited for tonight, I am going to the Caird hall to watch "Illuminations", its right up my street in relations to my honours project. Its the scottish ensemble, sounds boring? kinda, BUT this is no normal show; video artist Netia Jones is creating a live video design to go along with the music! Here is a short video to explain more, I will blog later tonight/tomorrow morning to tell you my thoughts etc. Also there is a talk before the show with the artist which I will be attending so maybe I will get to talk to the video artists, that would be great!