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Fluorescent 1
Installation

After not being able to acoustically defurbish the large rectangular Contemporary Project Space at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the installation was redesigned to position a viewer in an ideal audiovisual 'zone'. This involved a 4 metre diameter circle of black carpet being placed in the centre of the space. This area was then spot lit so that once inside the area, the contrast and saturation of the video image projected on the walls was perceptually higher and bolder. When outside of this spotlit space, the image is still fine, though it is bleached slightly by all the reflective light as the video imagery received from the surrounding white walls.

Around this circle of carpet were placed the 5 channel speakers. These speakers were placed on poles set at elbow height and aimed upwards toward the viewer/auditor's head. Within this carpeted zone, the sound was optimal and contained clarity in frequency range and precision in spatialization. Outside of this space, the sound was diffused and rendered boomy and ambient, typical of how sound appears in art galleries and museums. The concept was to demarcate a proper audiovisual zone within the anti-audiovisual territory of the art museum. Playback of the sound was at a high level, and a separate sub-woofer allowed for the music to have energy and presence in the otherwise vast empty space.

The resulting effect is like having the perfect position at a concert - with all sound aimed toward you while the complete scope of the stage is within your reach. The hyper-widescreen 3-screen stage and the scale of the videosonic performer create the spectacle of being within the 'world of the song' while standing in the central 'headphonic' space.


Initial plan for the Contemporary Project Space at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.





Installation documentation from the exhibition at Art Gallery of New South Wales, February-April 2004.

front-on view from centre

View from rear left corner looking front right

View from rear right corner looking front left

Thanks to the Art Gallery of New South Wales for supply of images.

Initial plan for the installation at the Singapore Biennale.

Installation documentation from the exhibition in the Singapore Biennale, 2006.

Complete contents of this page © Philip Brophy