UNI [THESIS] – P3 AMBIKA INSTALLATION VENUE

July 5th, 2009 | Richard Almond

I’ve managed to find a suitable venue to host my installation, and a very convenient one at that, being a small storage room in P3. The space is deep in the underbelly of the University of Westminster, it has no natural light and so lends itself well to projection work, it also benefits from some degraded, decaying surfaces which allow for some interesting effects when projecting images of digital decay. I’ve done some initial experimentation in the space with projecting my MaxMSP patch, and there were a few issues thrown up which need consideration.

Mainly, there is a fine balance to be acheived in the lighting of the installation. Because there is a direct link between the camera and the projector, enough light is required to create the desired effect in the patch, but not too much as to render the resulting projection washed out.

There is also consideration to be made over the actual surface for projection. There are a number of suitable wall surfaces within the room, but due to the locations of powerpoints and the fact that part of the room is still in use as storage, it may be sensible to cordon off a section with a screen. This screen could then be used to rear-project onto, meaning that visitors may closely study what is on the screen without interfering with the projection.

Click here to see some photographs from initial projection experimentation.