Monday 18 April 2011

Phoenix Gallery Brighton: Actuate My Void.

I recently visited the Phoenix Gallery in Brighton to view an interactive sound and light installation. Three artists, Angie Atmadjaja, Theo Burt, and Peter Worth explore a combination of digital generated audio, intense projected colour and reactive lighting.

Below is some short video clips that I filmed of the exhibition.




In the first gallery space there was an installation by Angie Atmadjaja titled: Intrinsic. Upon entering this space I initially felt a little apprehensive as the room was totally pitch black and I couldn’t see anything. I carried on walking quite slow until a collection of individual floating tubular neon lights started to merge before my eyes. Gradually the tubes started to resonate and I felt as if I was inside some sort of digital musical instrument that was trying to communicate with me. At first, the sounds reminded me of a machine that had to reach a certain pitch before activation. Then once the required pitch had been reached, beautiful musical dancing life forms could come to life and communicate at their correct velocity. This was so amazing to watch. It also made me feel like I had been welcomed into a new visual digital world, combined of light, dance and sound.

The second gallery space was an installation by Theo Burt titled: Four. He used four suspended light panels and four speakers to create a combination of different colours and sounds, creating sound patterns which also seemed like a form of communication. This installation reminded me of the sci-fi film called Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where  Aliens communicate using colours, patterns and sounds. Even though this installation made me feel really happy I couldn’t help thinking if there were subliminal messages hidden somewhere, or if this could be used as a form of brain washing technique.

The third gallery space was an installation by Peter Worth titled: Material. This installation consisted of a different colour projected onto a square which slightly protruded from the wall, giving a digital relief effect. Bright colour and sound emanated from the square, which would then change to another colour and sound every so often. I tried to film this but it didn’t turn out very well as I really needed a tripod.
I felt contradictory emotions from this installation, while some colours where very calming, some of the sounds were not, and also verse versa. It left me thinking about the relationship between colour and sound and how people react. For instance would I prefer to look at my favourite colour with a slightly annoying sound or look at a colour that’s totally glary but with a sound that I like?

I thoroughly enjoyed viewing all three installations, they were all very thought provoking which left me feeling totally inspired :-)

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