The ‘Octave’ at Salford University

 

Just want to express how impressed I was by the ‘Octave’ at Salford University.

 They have received Grants for the arts funds to bring artists in residence to experiment with the possibility of this incredibly cool kit. It’s really star trek stuff where you enter this space with eight surrounding screens- the ‘Octave’ which you can walk around inside and look at 3D landscapes which respond to the movement of the people inside.

They gave a really great panel discussion which included Steve Symons from Owl projects and Drew Hemment from Future Everything. Below is a snap shot from the presentation given by current artists in residence: Kyle McDonald, Joanie Lemercier, and Joel Gethin Lewis

Salford have had this tech for the last five years and this is the first time it’s been made available to the public, it’s appointment only and really limited to when you can go:

     The Octave, Centre for Virtual Environments, Second Floor, Newton 

Building, Peel Park Campus, University of Salford

11.00am- 4.00pm, Friday 7 December 2012-Friday 18 January 2013 by appointment

(closed weekends and Monday 17 December-Sunday 6 January 2013 inclusive)

6.00pm–8.00pm, Thursday 6 and Thursday 17 January- open access drop in

To book an appointment for the Octave please email Kit Turner at c.r.a.turner@salford.ac.uk

Visiting the Octave:www.salford.ac.uk/travel

Yu-Chen Wang, A Splash and A Last Drop

The Chinese Art Centre host a residency programme, London-based artist, Yu-Chen Wang was creating site-specific installation as apart of her residency. She created a performance piece which was apart of the Future Everything and hosted at the Victoria Baths. The whole of the Victoria Baths had different areas of work, with loads to see, it was a really great event.

The project is based on the fictional story of Yu-Chen’s new experiment of creating “A Last Drop” in order to re-fill the pool at Victoria Baths and ensure that the water will never dry up again.

I hadn't realised what I had gotten myself into when I volunteered, I was given a short section of text to learn which referenced Manchester's industrial revolution. All I knew was I needed to be suited and booted, consider everything in this paragraph and talk to visitors in own words, about what I knew as they came to the baths.

I was then given very special attire which helped vistors identify me as apart of the work.

Each of the nine volunteers had there own text and collectively we would build a history for visitors which led to the opening of the baths. There was then a live performance (which will be released later in the year) involving a traveller who comes to explore...

The best moment for me was standing frozen inside the baths whilst I listen to the Cavendish Singers sang a traditional Victorian Choir, it was a very bizarre and surreal experience!

Limited edition hand-made publications are given out to the public whilst the performance is filmed by the members of Manchester Metropolitian University, Media Lab. Cornerhouse will premiere the film to coincide Yu-Chen Wang’s artist book, published by Chinese Arts Centre later this year. Hopefully when this happens I'll be able to attach a link to the video so everyone can see what happened.