Projected poetry in Nottingham

The installation of the lighting piece for Nottingham starts on June 20th. Last night in my studio I mocked up a few poetry projections to get a feel for the poems that will randomly be selected each night for people to enjoy. 

We have now received a line from Jake Bugg, Roger McGough and John Hegley has written a site specific piece.

Many thanks to Duncan Turner, Sharon Scaniglia, Nottingham City Council and all the poets, writers and organisations who have submitted work and given permission to use these words.

Projected poetry in Nottingham

The poems are almost ready to be projected. I have just completed drawing most of the 365 poems to be projected under the tram bridge at Nottingham Railway Station. One of the 365 poems is selected randomly each night. The programmable linear LED lights under the bridge respond to the trams moving above the bridge. Here are some sketches showing what they will look like - well, it will be a bit darker. Installation is due at the end of June/early July 2016.

Nottingham was recently awarded the City of Literature status by UNESCO and the project is very fortunate to have received a poem about Anne Frank by Andrew Motion. This will add to the literary profile of the city.

Thanks to Nottingham City Council, Duncan Turner and all the writers/poets who sent in poems from around the world.

Interactive poetry wall

Continuing with the digtial and physical artworks, here is an interactive poetry wall sample. This can be scaled in size and poem construction to fit any wall. Each drum contains a set of 11 words in each category i.e. nouns, adjective's etc. The drums can be slotted in and out which means that any category can easily be updated or a whole new set inserted if required.The drums are made from printed aluminium.

The drums are programmed to respond randomly when a person is detected - eight drums rotate on each occasion. This significantly changes the poem and guarentees a varied combination every time.

The sonic sensor is programmed to respond to people within a range of 5cm to 50 cm's of the artwork. The sonic sensor acts like a bats echolocation.

The background pattern is made from a repeated ampersand.

A short film showing the interactive poetry wall in action is currently being made and will be uploaded when complete.

Thanks enormously to Sue Stewart and Matt Little.

Pigeon beak

In Bologna last week I was eating a sandwich in the Cathedral Square watching a pigeon attack some edam rind with great dexterity and endeavour. I watched it flick the rind over and over again to loosen the cheese.
That evening whist eating a plate of tagliatelle with my fork I thought how helpful it would be if pigeons increased the number of prongs from one (beak) to four.

Sit up cuckoo clock

The new year sometimes brings a desire to get fit so I thought I'd show a sit up cuckoo clock I made.

On the hour, every (sociable) hour the figure practices sit ups to correspond with the number of hours. All very efficient apart from a wayward desire for the clock to chime at 11 minutes past rather than on the hour. A clear indication that machines have their own character.

Harrogate hospital

We have just heard that the Harrogate Macmillan Hospital has won the Best Interior Award at the Annual Building Better Healthcare awards. 

Here is a picture of a real time responsive film where a gardener (thanks to Jonathan Hale) emerges from his allotment shed and undertakes various positive and caring actives such as cleaning potatoes etc. The background stays the same and when someone walks along the corridor their movement activates the random selection of the gardener. 

The two images on the glass on the left hand side of the picture are two (of a series) of animated glass panels.

Thanks to Macmillan, Nightingale architects, Jonathan Hale, Willis Newson and Proto Studios.

burnley launch artistic lighting

Here are some more photos that Burnley Borough Council (Andy Ford) took from this weeks launch of the Weavers Triangle project.
Massive thank you to all involved.