Output details

Plenum : [Computer-generated, real-time architectural sound and light projection]

Plenum is a computer generated real-time architectural light projection. It was a contribution to an EU funded European multi-city series of exhibitions, seminars and lectures linking academics, scientists and artists in a discourse about the relationships between art, science and belief entitled 'Lux Scientia'. It received €199,500 funding from the EU Culture Fund and was curated by Artichoke, a leading UK commissioning organisation.

The significance of Plenum lies in its combining of cosmology, complexity theory as well as mythic narratives informed by Christian and Hindu metaphysics to create a story about the balance of order and chaos in the cosmos. Complexity theory sees the cosmos as comprehensible at all scales and contexts. Plenum was an iterative algorithmic video, playing out differently in each 15 minute cycle and had accompanying music generated from the same algorithmic code used in the video.

As lead artist I commissioned a soundscape from Rob Godman and developed the computer code with Nick Rothwell, an expert computer scientist and artist. The concept came partly out of interactions with cosmologists including Prof Bernard Carr, QMUL and Revd Prof David Wilkinson, Durham University.

The work was presented at large scale outdoor architectural and light festivals: Skyway ’11 Festival,Torun, Poland; Valgus Festival, Tallinn and Estonia; Lumière Festival, Durham, UK. There were art and science symposia in each city with contributions from scientists, artists, curators and commissioners, a psychologist and theologian, David Wilkinson. The culminating symposium, 'The Future of European Collaboration' in London included panel speakers Mario Caeiro, Luzboa Festival, Lisbon; Robert Caten, Glow, Eindhoven; Jean Francois Zurawik from Fête des Lumières, Lyon; and Gisella Gellini, light curator and critic, and myself.