Encounter with an object

My next idea was try and form an encounter with an object. This is something that happens on a daily bases but I also wanted to explore the possibility of having a ‘meaningful’ encounter with an object, this may mean the object or piece of art must have an air of reverence, spirituality or preciousness that it can be at the very least associated with these types of artefacts.

I started looking at dated artefacts and started to stray down the path of strange contraptions invented by Victorians, an era renowned for their creative prowess and attempts of shaping the new world that they would eventually heavily influenced. After conducting research from my the university library and internet resources one of my the Fine art technicians came over and we entered into an animated discussion about animation (a subject we have discussed at length before) and its humble beginnings in the form of Zoetrope’s and flick books.

Unknowingly John (the Technician) had kindled the beginnings of a new idea!

Before we go any further there is something that you need to know about me. I have always had a love for animation both traditional and modern 3D rendering and have even run workshops and classes to teach students how to use animation software such as Cinema 4D and Blender. This also means that I have created previous work involving the use of animations and in particular zoetrope’s.

Earlier in the week I had also created a table made up of scavenged wood and shattered glass collected from a selection that when lit became a completely different object and started to pull on the strings of becoming an object that you could have an encounter with. So I decided to pull together elements of both of these ideas to create a new concept (as far as I can tell something that has never been done before) and created a ‘Projectortrope’.

The basic principle of a zoetrope is that a sequence of images is placed on the inside of a circular tube and is then spun forming an animation which you can only see by looking into the tube or through slot cut into the side of the tube. A projector trope is where instead of the images being placed on the inside of the circular tube the images are mounted into the side of the ‘trope’and then when lit projected onto the surround eras Transforming not only the object but the surrounding area as well. There are also different variables that you can control when creating a Projectortrope such as, depending on the size of your photos and the distance of the light and the images will determine whether you have a clear cut or an abstract image.

Now I must admit to a mistake, I only found out about the variables when I had already set the distance and size, so I had little choice in the matter of the projection being abstract or a clear cut image. But this is something that I can definitely work on the next construction of the Projectortrope and even build in runners allowing different focus points of each image to be met. Having said that the transformation of a clear cut image to an abstract form made the Projectortrope take on a different form and I feel actually enhances that level of ambiguity and mystery that had begun to surround this object.

This also did mean that the stop animation that I placed within the sequence of images didn’t work but I’m not so sure this turned out to be a bad thing. I’m now planning on taking this piece down to market square and projecting onto a water fountain and see if then document any encounters that happen.

Copy right of Benjamin Viney 2012