a collaboration in sound and light
by Alex Bradley with Charles Poulet

The use of things not as they are intended

history

Whiteplane 2 was first conceived and executed as a four hour improvised opening event commissioned by the Inbetween Time Festival in February 2003 using quadrophonic sound and architectural lighting. This was presented in the main auditorium of Arnolfini, Bristol and comprised of two 24 x 10 ft cinema screens at opposite ends of the space. The artists' intention was to create a 'cinema with no film'; an event that took the risk of avoiding conventional moving image techniques and the prescribed, prearranged soundtrack. This gave the artists scope to work improvisationally with the audience via combinations of primary colours and durational fades, juxtaposing differing audio 'reactions' both in content and quadrophonic positioning.

Bradley and Poulet undertook a phase of research and development at The Engine Room, Bridgewater, The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Performance Space, Sydney, collaborating with Australian sound artists Gail Priest and Bruce Mowson. During this period the artists used Olympus wearable imaging technologies to research the effect of differing blends and purity of colours with audio compositions. In the final presentation in Australia audience members wore the Eye Treks, receiving the video data wirelessly. They sat on mobile chairs, placed in the centre of the space (as a starting point) and were informed that they could move freely around the space. The audio was delivered via an octophonic array of speakers. The work was presented to two audience members at a time for a ten minute duration. The audio/visual composition was the result of the collaborative work between, Bradley, Mowson, Priest and Poulet. It consisted of 4 sections arranged by each artist, from collectively created material. The visual content was experienced individually with the audio delivered to the audience in a shared physical environment. Interviews were conducted, and the material was studied in order to evaluate the audience reaction to the work with particular attention paid to the relationship between the audio composition and the visual content. The studies have shown a strong reaction to the audio content, but the use of the Eye Trek as a visual delivery system seemed too insular and somehow distracting to integrate fully with the audio content.

context

and you can shine in verse. The wall of dark, the prison of nights, our double barrel can conquer. Let the dance of rays and light shine out with maximum power!
The most extraordinary thing that ever happened to me
For The Voice, Vladimir Mayakovsky, 1923

What is contemporary art for us now? Do we, as artists, have the ability to create the challenges, the re-examination of our world through abstraction? How do we create a vital and crucial communication via the unidentifiable, the unfamiliar? In the desire for change lies the ability of artistic endeavour to create the fragile articulations and spaces where the viewer/audience/witness is at last given the opportunity to do what they do best - think about where they are now and where they could be.

Writer/critic, Robert Hughes has concluded that it is part of the contemporary artist's current responsibility to create 'beauty'. Whilst this can be interpreted as a 'backwards glance' it also contains a debate that can be overlooked. His argument presents an epoch of artistic contradictions and optimism starting with the construction of the Eiffel Tower and ending in the destruction of 9/11 - necessitating, in his view, a return to the artistic vision/creation of beauty in a world full of horror. This is, in many ways, only part of the story. We occupy a world saturated in imagery with emphasis (both mentally and physically) laid upon the acceptance of commerce as the definer of the great, the good and the bad; the only artistic responses being of critical participation, artistic submission or isolation. How do we approach artistic endeavour in the critical minefield that is interdisciplinary arts? Our process in this particular project emanates from the contradictory elements of Hughes' argument for beauty. The installation has as it's core not just the creation of a 'thing of beauty' but a 'thing' that contains the expression of disorientation (how to make sense of a world that makes no sense?). We see the piece as a type of 'theatre with no actors' - an experience that only comes into being when an audience is within it, defining, reshaping and questioning.

human brains and human beings are not closed systemsÉthey are open systems, formed by their own past history and continually in interaction with the natural and social words outside, both changing them and being changed in their turn.
The Making of Memory, Steven Rose, 1992

The conceptual configuration of two horizontal planes of changing light relates to the above issues and questions. Process as opposed to product and the creation of an environment that receives direct input from the artistic collaboration and therefore engenders further dialogue in both visual and audio terms, contributing to their final integration. In the execution of Whiteplane 2, 'the space inbetween' is physically created, and, moreover, is intended to give the artist and viewer/witness/audience this 'space' mentally. Abstract thought is what differentiates humans from other species, so the mere suggestion of this can provoke new or unknown responses. Throughout the research and development of this work it has been a hallmark that audience responses are imbued with a re-invigoration of critical thought and imaginings, ranging from mildly metaphorical to the out-and-out fantastic. The sound element within the work comprises the creation of an audio 'horizon' making hearing the only form of vertical reference, gently commanding a temporary realignment of the senses by way of frequency, volume and movement. Noting the impact sound has on both physical and mental states there can be formed, through authored and compositional techniques, an inter-relationship of position, emotion and physical reaction.