The Creators Project: If a swarm of fireflies trained to perform a synchronized dance routine suddently flew into an indie rock show, it might look something like DJ-cum-artist Max Cooper, Architecture Social Club founder Satyajit Das, and designer Regan Appleton's mind-blowing installation, Aether. Like MacGyvers of installation art, the London-based trio cleverly combines string, pipes, and a single projector into a truly stunning light show.
10 comments:
Using lasers on string is a surprisingly effective way to make a cheaper setup like this. what amazing results.i could see this being utilized in more concerts and performances. It seems like the kind of thing you need to see in person to appreciate. That being said i could also see the applications in theater perhaps creating a simple spectacle of the audience or even using it to creativley tell a story.
I would have loved to have seen this installation in person. Such a genius idea to use strings and light in different areas to make 3D shapes. I wonder how long it took to install and then program. It seems that there was a lot of different designs as the show progressed, so it must have taken a long time. Where did they start? Did they have to be constantly moving around the room to make each picture? I am still hung up on the idea that it had to have taken forever to design each look. Each string and then each light on each string must have to be turned on the right color and timing. I wonder if they talked with the DJs about doing this installation and how it could impact their performance. I applaud the artists and I hope they find other opportunities to do this amazing work.
Oh that is so cool. This would be mind blowing to see in person. Honestly, I think the strobe lights would end up being too much for me, but this is still so cool. It is also a really innovative use of light. Instead of having actual lights, the designers lit the strings with laser lights. This must have taken a million years to make, but with such a successful product, it seems like it would be worth it. Just based on these photos, it seems like this installation would be absolutely extraordinary to see in person. I also think this would work incredibly in conjunction with sound design and DJing. Imagine how cool it would be to be in a club with a hundred people dancing to a song where the lights are flashing to the beat of the music -- but the lights are completely surrounding you. That would be like an otherworldly experience. The light resembles rain, making the light droplets feel extra immersive. I really hope this installation makes an appearance in Pittsburgh, because I would love to see something like this live!
I’d love to see someone do something like this as a playground project, as I think this type of installation artwork is rising in popularity amongst non-artistic communities. There’s something powerful about an experiential type of environment that one can inhabit, and not only is this type of work very similar to what we try to do as theatrical artists for the world that we want to portray on a stage, but I think that this type of artwork does an excellent job of distilling down a concept to its most extreme core. This type of project is what we are encouraged to create for Susan in basic design, but it is rarely attempted on any scale larger than that of a project in that class. There’s a reason why people like to come to see the arcade projects, and there’s a reason why freshman design and production people are asked to create the arcade projects, and if a designer or group of designers came together to create an installation piece, I think that it would be one of the jewels of that playground.
This installation looks absolutely mesmerizing. It would be absolutely amazing to see how it could be used in other kinds of entertainment capacities, as I can see this kind of design working wonders in modern concert venues and even in nighttime public art installations. It would also be incredible interesting to see how the strings of light could interact with objects suspended in between them as well. This may mess with the illusion that is being created, but played around with enough I think it could present an even more interesting illusion where instead of the lights themselves creating the space, the lights perfectly blend and interact with the space around them. This is certainly a very interesting application of using both lighting and media technologies, which I think in the theatre world presents a very real challenge most of the time. However, can you imagine a choreographed dance moving through and interacting with the strings of light while the lights dance around them at the same time?
I am a huge fan of light shows and audio visualizations. With modern physical computing tools, artists are having much more freedom to execute creative concepts and make super beautiful installations like this one. However, as Brennan pointed out in his comment, it is challenging for the theater world to incorporate media design with storytelling. Right now, most artists use media arts as a form of "eye candy." They look fancy and create an exciting sensation for the viewers, but they tell stories in such an untraditional way that confuse the audience, and they hardly cause direct effect on the emotions of viewers. Last year in Lord of the Flies, for example, the media design was what made the production stand out, in my opinion. But the "shock factor" of the media experimentations kind of overpowered the original story. As an audience member, I took a lot of energy digesting the significance of the sets, but in the end when I reflected upon the characters and plot, I didn't really know how to process all that information. Technology should enhance the power of art, instead of distracting people from experiencing the emotional aspect of art.
I’m interested in optical illusions, and human perception in general, so I found the way this project works to be very interesting. It takes the fact that when a person sees a light in one place and then in another nearby place, their brain interprets that as the light having moved, because in most cases, that is how it would be. Take that principle, make a grid, and apply it to a 3D space, and all of a sudden you have something that looks really cool. For some reason, we inherently like having our perception tricked. We like things that seem impossible or magical. I think, though this is a very concrete example of tricking perception, in general technical theater is all about tricking perception. It is about making a world that looks real and feels real, even though it is all fake, just like this piece is about creating a dancing cluster of lights, even though the lights themselves actually aren’t moving.
I think this is a really cool and interesting technique. One way I could see this being used is in more immersive performances, such as using this effect to create stars and flying Peter Pan into the audience through the "star field." One of the biggest things I like about theatre is the "surprise" effects that just truly can make an audience member go "wow what just happened?!" or "how did they do that?" It's overhearing those type of questions that really inspire me as a designer and technician to work towards pushing boundaries that will ultimately surprise people. I think, in history, shows that have made people say and ask those questions when they've experienced (not seen, "experienced," word choice intentional) a theatrical effect, are the ones that have gone down in history.
This lighting/ projection installation is so so beautiful! I can only imagine what it’d be like to be surrounded by all of those pinpoints of light pulsing to the beat of the music. It reminds me a lot of the installation at the mattress factory of that floating orb of light set in a dark room with slowly rising and dimming area lights. When you first turn the corner and see it, you really can’t tell what it’s made of, if it’s 2-D or 3-D, or how far away it is. Pictures definitely weren’t able to capture the strangeness of an object made of light that simultaneously took up space and none at all. I think there’s a lot of power in installation art that makes everyone stop and stare and wonder in awe, even just for a split second, since in that moment you are totally separate from your preconceptions of what you were expecting to experience.
I am imagining that there was a ton of fiber optic like technologies to construct this amazing installation. I have wanted to get my hands on fiber optics for a while. Even if that’s not what they are actually using in this art piece I am going to talk about them for a short while because of the magical qualities that they bring to staging live effects. The reason I believe that this is what the used for at least part of the piece is because fiber optic cable is nearly invisible to the eye from a distance but it produces magnificent and magical qualities when turned on. You only ever see the end of the strand lit up which allows for amazing reveals. I love the fact that it is programmed to music. But that has me wonder if it can play to an song but pick up the frequencies or if it has a select few songs that it plays to.
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