The Logo

This logo, in the first instance, represents a 'void'. Secondly it represents the organic growth of our festival, spreading and flowing from one point in the city outwards. 
I created this logo by dropping ink onto a dampened piece of paper and letting it spread. I used black ink as it is a simple, uniform colour and it's also bold. When i think of a void I think of a black hole, hence the denseness of the logo. I then scanned the image in and intensified the colour by altering the contrast settings. Finally I added the title of our festival using our chosen font; Helvetica Neue, for a uniform look. 
We thought it was important to have an overall logo for promotion purposes so we do not confuse the public and in doing so put them off attending the events. It also brings all of the separate elements of our work and events together.

Final Magic Eye Promo Flyers

I used the name of our festival 'VOID' and the date to create the final promotional magic eye flyers. They give snippets of information without giving too much away about the content. These would be one of our main promotional outlets and we have received brilliant feedback about them so far.

Glow in the Dark Tiles

'Follow the glow brick road'

These are the glow in the dark resin tiles that Hannah and I have been creating. We thought these would be great inside the sensory spaces alongside the pouches. They would be great as tactile and visual sensory tools. 

We have also been speaking as a group about using them as 'way-markers'. They would be laid out as a sort of 'road' for festival goers to follow from the main, well-known parts of the city to our event areas. They could be seen in the dark and we think that children would love the idea of following a 'glow brick road'!

Interim Pitch

Today we had our 1 week interim pitch at Bench. We got some amazing feedback that has spurred us on to experiment further and keep going with our non-commercial ideas! 

Some good feedback points were:

• Lo-fi experiments
• Audience participation
• Linking Salford to Manchester
• Working together in an interesting and productive way
• Regeneration ideas
• Non-commercial
• Exciting and engaging concept

The experiments within the pitch really excited the audience and they will be something that we will be furthering and possibly using in our final pitch.

Some points of creative criticism/pointers were:

• Decide on a specific name
• Make it clear in the next pitch that our festival is an alternative layer
• Make sure that the final pitch is clear and concise.
• Create a list of possible collaborators (artists/ designers etc)
• Create a clear manifesto

Sensory Pods

We started to think about areas in the festival where people could rest, gather their thoughts, cleanse their senses and socialise with other festival goers.

I wanted to use large textiles spaces to involve my practice within the festival. I chose cotton as there are strong connections with the old textile industry in Manchester. I played around with sewing the cotton into different shapes and eventually decided on a hanging pod like structure. These pods would be scattered throughout the chosen festival area with different, gentle sensory experiences inside. Some may be completely dark. Some may have other tactile installations within them. Hannah.S and I have been experimenting with glow in the dark resin tiles, and Hannah (Sulek) has being creating glow in the dark pouches which could possibly be hung inside the sensory pods. We realise that there is a need for relaxation spaces within festivals but we did not want our spaces to be too far removed from the experiences of our events.

Promo Video

Tom has made a promotional video for our festival using the imagery we collected in our lo-fi ink experiments. This is a way in which the lo-fi experiments that we have been using can develop into actual festival content. It also gives a suggestion towards the more complex techniques we may be using within the festival (3D mapping, Moving Floor etc). Here is a link to the video.

VOID promo video

Research

Carsten Nicolai

Carsten Nicolai is a German artist who works in the field of sound and vision. He plays on sensory perception of sound and light through installation, performance, drawing and film. The intersection of visual and audio materials is a key, reoccurring feature in his work. His work 'Anti-Reflex' (above) consists of two differently constructed spaces. One is 'Anti', the other 'Reflex'. Within 'Reflex', a white dodecagon, white noise is through speakers mounted on each side of the structure which creates an auditory illusion of being in a completely different space. This may suggest that we may be able to see something that isn't there through the use of sound modification. 

This may be an interesting point to develop upon for our festival, giving people a totally different experience of a space or Manchester that they could not experience without the use of sound. Playing on the senses to create an unexpected experience.