Prisma

Exhibited first in 'The Greatest Show on Earth' in January 2003, Prisma developed out of Prism, the earlier studio work.

Prism was designed as a large scale multi-screen installation. It is made from elements generated in a 3D modelling computer programme. The objects that appear are formed from lighting units that would typically be used in an architects visualisation of a planned space. These ‘light objects’ are animated to glide from a point in deep space through a set of points of view or ‘virtual cameras’. What is shown here is a studio set-up using four projections and an on-screen model using eight projections. The result is a kaleidoscopic immersive environment that literally places the viewer in the centre of the cinematic spectacle of the ‘stargate’ (exemplified in Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, or used to signal a transition to another kind of space in the Pearl and Dean advertising trailers).

For Prisma three progressively more complex video sequences were rendered from eight of the thirteen cameras programmed into the 3D animation which serves as Prism's source material. These eight views were then projected in sync. onto eight small screens mounted on simple timber armatures.

The very apparent, simple, physical quality of the armatures - part film or theatrical set, part construction site or hoarding - is contrasted with the fluid digital animation.

Installed to confuse the relationship between front and back view, the projected image is first seen, between the structure of the more obvious timber armature, reflected in a large decorative mirror - a remnant of the gallery's recent past when it served as a ball room.

 

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