∆ (Chronocyclegraphs)​​ - Statement

​

By documenting movement and translating it through the lens, I explore the science and technology of motion capture and am inspired by its pioneers, such as Muybridge and Étienne-Jules Marey. I find it interesting that there is no ‘real’ moving image; it is an illusion created by the brain, a visual impression of what we experience in our real time perception, but what is subconsciously generated from a secondary perspective. All visuals only exist because of light, the ethereal qualities of which have become the main fascination informing my practice. Quayola and Memo Aitken’s Forms push some of these ideas by reducing the actions of athletes to a graphical representation, focusing our awareness of the movement on an unrecognisable level.

 

∆ (Chronocyclegraphs) is a moving image work realised through an experimental projection installation. The film follows dancers with LED lights attached, improvising in the dark to a specially created piece of music. This generates visual traces of the illuminated gestures travelling through space and time. The footage is then run through digital editing programs, manipulating the light to have a prolonged presence across the frames, much like a long exposure effect on a stills camera. The energised trails are then projected on to suspended Perspex, and as the dancing lines permeate the translucent surface, they expel a polychromatic haze of subtle gestures through and beyond. The structure and light-refracting pyramid act as a physical juxtaposition to the fluidity of the film. In using light to disrupt perception of solidity and space, I have been influenced the immersive installation of Laura Buckley’s Fata Morgana, its ambiguity emphasising the parallels between reality and illusion.

​

I have worked collaboratively with dancers and sound artists, where I can control the influential variables, but the reaction of the participants is spontaneous, the end result unknown until completion. The control returns with the editing and presentation of the aesthetics, as I form my response to the material produced in this symbiotic creative process. My fascination with dance reflects my interest in performance as an embodiment of intangible concepts; the most emotive and accessible expression of ideas. The atmospheric sound piece was designed to evoke a range of physical interpretations from the dancers. Directing this project has made me admire collage artist Linder Sterling’s The Ultimate Form, a new ballet piece bringing together many collaborators that are “hosts” for her desires.

​

The vivid use of colour creates the notion of something spectacular, such as the vibrancy and beauty found in natural phenomena, from expansive nebulas to chromogenic microscopic imagery. This installation employs that sublime sense of wonder in its ephemeral yet vivacious environment. In a state of flux over a 3-song cycle, the energy and pace evolves the longer the audience choose to occupy the immersive space. A fleeting collection of moments that generate waves of crescendo and calm, I hope this multisensory work stimulates the imagination of its viewers.​

​

With Thanks to;
Sound installation artist and composer: Dom Rattray
Dancers: Hannah Wright, Ashleigh McKenna, Amy Hubbard, Jessica Butler, Mayuri Morawaka,​Cristina Mitri.
All the DMU technicians who made this possible.