Depths of Sorrow: Motion Activated, Nocturne, 2017, Halifax.

Depths of Sorrow: Vanish! Nocturne 2017

October 14th saw our collaborative team Motion Activated in a multimedia performance with my work as visual artist and animator, audio/visual composer Lukas Pearse, and dance artist Veronique MacKenzie, in the presentation of Depths of Sorrow- a large-scale projection event relating the haunting and tragic story of the maiden voyage of the Titanic. 

The 5th floor Living Room of the Halifax Central Library provided the stage for Depths of Sorrow,
with the sound score heard via speakers in the front courtyard.

This abstract narrative retells a story of courage and the ensuing darkness that overtook the passengers and crew on that fateful night. A fictional passenger embarks on her journey across the ocean on a vessel deemed unsinkable. Set amongst hand-drawn images and animations based on archival photographs of the ship’s interior and exterior, the character’s video image moves and dances as she experiences the initial hopes of her exciting journey through to her final horrifying moments in the ice cold waters of the North Atlantic. 

Live dance performance captured by infrared camera infuse the imagery with ghostly figures through real-time video processing. The immersive sound score includes nostalgic musical elements of the era as well as a Morse Code Fugue while underwater imagery pulls us down to the final resting place and into the Depths of Sorrow.

While waiting for night to fall, Véronique spoke with the gathering crowd
about her exciting imminent departure on the Titanic 

In the projection space, preparations and rehearsal took place the night before.

Rehearsal on October 13th, as viewed from the courtyard.

Viewed from the interior three screens were placed on the  north, east and west sides of the
Living Room, with three projectors rear-screening the video, animations and live performance. 

During the performance, Véronique's live movement was added
to the video projection through infrared capture.

Véronique also added to the story by interrupting the projection
creating a shadow image.

Looking down from the projection area, the performance was reflected in the window glass.

Depths of Sorrow as viewed from across the street on the corner of Spring Garden Road and Queen Street.

Animation: the sinking of the Titanic

Depths of Sorrow as viewed from the centre of the courtyard.

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Nocturne: 2015: Grain by Grain

I was excited to be with our Motion Activated team working with projection mapping, live capture of movement, and live drawing.

Lukas Pearse, Véronique MacKenzie and Susan Tooke:Halifax Grain Elevator, 951 South Bland St.

"In a grand-scale projection project, artists Lukas Pearse, Véronique MacKenzie and Susan Tooke present an ethereal performance piece, projected high against the facades of the Halifax Grain Elevator system and best seen from The Cunard Centre parking lot. This project was presented in partnership with the Centre for Art Tapes."

Nocturne: 2015: 3B: Backlands, Badlands, Burbs.

With the theme of Lost and Found, I worked on two of the Beacon Projects during Nocturne, 2015.

3B: Backlands, Badlands, Burbs: 

A combination of field video and audio recordings, rotoscoping animation, and still photography, 3B was Rear screen projected on velum covering a wide stretch of windows above the entrance to the new Halifax Main Library.  The audio track was broadcast in the front courtyard, so that viewers could experience video and audio not only while directly in front of the library, but from the surrounding streets.

Initiating a discussion about choices we make as a society on the growth of a city, 3B explores the destruction of natural habitat by the encroaching development of the wilderness area known as the Backlands located between Purcell’s Cove Road and Herring Cove Road.

The audience experienced, through sound and images, the natural landscape, the progression of the destruction of this rare environment and the building of the new neighbourhood. The fragile ecosystem is forever changed, with the very bedrock that supported it reshaped to provide for new housing. The lands once part of the Backlands wilderness area, found by hikers, bikers and finally developers is irrevocably lost, then re-purposed as human habitation reshapes the landscape.

photos by Richard Rudnicki

                           

As a Media Arts Scholar in the Centre For Art Tapes program (August 2014-August 2015), I was immersed in intensive media training involving workshops and mentorships in video and audio recording, editing and production, and the animation techniques of rotoscoping and frame animation.  I was mentored by Nick Bottomley in the use of Isadora, an interactive media presentation tool with the capacity for programming multiple video and audio layers and effects and outputting to multiple projectors.

The project that I developed during this program is 3B: Backlands, Badlands, Burbs.  Initiating a discussion about choices we make as a society on the growth of a city, 3B uses layered video and sound field recordings, still photograph, rotoscoping and frame animation to take the viewer from the wilderness of the Backlands to the development of the new suburban community of Governor's Brook.

Here are some stills from 3B:

Motion Activated 

is a collaboration between Lukas Pearse (interactive live visuals and interactive electroacoustic music), animator and visual artist Susan Tooke, and dance artist Véronique MacKenzie. Through the combination of two and three-dimensional art forms, Motion Activated describes the collected intentions and movement memory of a dancer’s body while magnifying the intricacies of trained movement. The audience is encouraged to reflect on their own movement pathways and to experience what dancers and other movement specialists experience.

Motion Activated transforms the venue creating walls and pathways; the audience follows the dancer as her body melds with drawings and video through flip books, scale drawings of the dance sequence, and infra-red capture of the live performance.The movement of the dancer and/or audience triggers sound and video at various points in the installation. 

Motion Activated was presented by the Saint Mary's University Art Gallery in June/July 2013, and at ARTsPLACE, Annapolis Royal, the following September.

audience: ARTsPlace, interacting with infrared capture

Pearse and MacKenzie interacting with video/animation (Tooke)

Pearse and MacKenzie interacting with video/animation (Tooke)

9 x 9 video clip mosaic, Saint Mary's University Art Gallery

MacKenzie performing with video mosaic, Saint Mary's University Art Gallery

flip books of dance video stills with sound cards, SMUAG

plinths with flip books, SMUAG

MacKenzie with scale drawings of choreography, SMAUG

MacKenzie with scale drawings of choreography, SMAUG

still of animation/video and infrared capture, SMAUG