Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:00am

MA | 3W12/13/14/15 Towards The Final Phase...

The past month's activities have very much focussed around my exhibition as part of Phoenix Digital. For this I've installed two ArtScanners, run my 'We Are Not Alone' piece in two venues and have had 'Anonymising Webcam' running for almost four weeks.

The work has been well-received and the comments - especially at the two launch events - have been very positive. The next step for me, at least in terms of my MA research, is to learn from this exhibition in order to finalise my main MA piece.

I've already started this process of analysis and am already pretty clear how the 'Autopoiesis I' piece will work.

Firstly, it will use a similar environment to 'We Are Not Alone' (see above). This took place in the Phoenix theatre space, giving very good control of the lighting, as well as providing a wide stage area for user interaction (the stage was basically lit with a single spotlight in the centre).

The work will also use the same video camera/screen configuration as 'We Are Not Alone', allowing the user to interact with the piece via their own life-size image.

Unlike 'We Are Not Alone', the image on the screen will consist of images of the users *plus* pre-recorded images. These images will be video sequences in the style of my 'People Walking' images. I plan to re-record the sequences though this weekend.

Two sources of recorded video images will be combined with the live footage in order to give the viewer a sense of walking, and interacting, with a crowd. Each video stream will respond both to the viewer and the *other* video stream, providing an environment in which three elements interact to create the art-system.

I probably won't make use of face tracking in the MA peice itself (as I had originally planned) but I may use it in the interactive presentation of the work at Camberwell Collage. Alternatively, I may use barcode scanning to drive this presentation. I *really* liked the whole ArtScanner aesthetic of using the barcode scanner to retrieve 'art' images. It's something I want to explore more.

I now need to produce the new piece of work and show it towards the end of April, or early May. I am planning an invitation-only showing of the work. Ideally in a theatre or large gallery space with good lighting.

Author: Sean Clark