As part of Future producers we are lucky enough to be given a small amount of budget each to take research trips for our projects. Here is a quick look at some of the workshops/exhibitions I’ve attended in preparation for the Watershed’s sci-fi Fun Palace: The Mothershed!
Digital Revolution: An immersive exhibition of art, design, film, music and videogames.
Digital Revolution explores and celebrates the transformation of the arts through digital technology since the 1970s. The exhibition brings together for the first time a range of artists, filmmakers, architects, designers, musicians and game developers, who are using digital media to push the boundaries of their fields. The show also looks to the future and considers the impact of creative coding, DIY and maker-culture, digital communities and the creative possibilities offered by augmented reality, artificial intelligence, wearable technologies and 3D printing.
This was such an interesting exhibition. I’d read some pretty uncomplimentary reviews, with one journalist disdainfully describing the video art on display as ‘gimmicky’. Now, I’m by no means an expert on digital and a lot of the computer game nostalgia went over my head – except for the Simms game set up, I spent 10 minutes on this reliving my childhood! However, isn’t ‘gimmicky’ exactly what digital art is meant to be? Isn’t that it’s beauty and success? Why is ‘gimmicky’ used here in a way which is synonymous with bad? Indeed, the majority of the items on display were by no means bad, cheap or unintelligent. It was a wonderful array of what technology has done and what it can do. It was amazing to see how much things have advanced in such a short space of time, from the games themselves and their techniques to the actual computer systems which were used to invent them.
Below I will list of my top 5 sections of the exhibition: (the names are my own invention rather than their official names)
1. The Around the World keyboard
A keyboard which tuned into and played sounds from radio stations across the world at every key-press. These stations were constantly changing, so no note would ever sound the same. You could see which parts of the world were making your (mostly very tuneless) tune in front of you on a virtual map and above you, with the names of the countries appearing by the speakers. Extremely cool.
2. The virtual butterfly wish-maker
Another interactive exhibit where you could speak your ‘wish’ into a microphone and watch it be written on the wall in front of you then transform into a butterfly and join all the other wishes people have made before you. I wished for The Mothershed – of course!
You can see a video of this here: MVI_3257
3. The become-a-bird wall
An absolutely awesome wall which you could stand in front of and see your own body get eaten alive by birds or raise your arms, sprout wings and fly right out of frame. Probably the most ‘gimmicky’ thing there was in the exhibition but I loved it!
4. The Gravity discussion booth
A great talk on how the effects in the Gravity theme were made through weightless cameras, light boxes and a lot of animation! Really interesting and education for anyone who’s seen the film and wants to find out more.
5. The Petting Zoo
Some strangely cut interactive robots which responded to where people were in the room around them and followed your movements. I wanted to take one home.
How it was useful for ‘The Mothershed’ research:
I found so much of this exhibition tied in with The Mothershed that it was really reassuring. The exhibition was highly interactive which was what made it interesting. We’re also going to make the Mothershed as interactive as possible. My one criticism of the exhibition was that, whilst there was a lot to interact with individually, it did not create much of a platform for collaborative interaction. This is something we will make sure is central to all The Mothershed’s events. The themes and subjects of the exhibition tied in very well though and it was interesting to see how they’d laid everything out. They even had a ping-pong table outside…
It wasn’t UV though, like ours will be – they missed a trick there!
I’d recommend this exhibition to anyone with an interest in digital technology: LED dresses, Robots, Lasers, Pacman… this had it all!