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.

Secret Promotion

We wanted the promotional elements of our 'night time festival' to have an element of secrecy and mystery to juxtapose against the inevitable obviousness of the day time design festival. We wanted the promotional tools to reflect the underground, growing nature of the events.

We talked about a few different ideas such as:

Hidden Writing (Steganography)

Magic eye (Stereograms)

Glow in the dark messages.

These promotional tools would be handed out or shown within the daytime festival to give people snippets of information about the forthcoming events such as dates, times, locations, without making the exact details too obvious as to expel mystery. We realise that people need details and encouragement to attend events such as this, and so we are relying on daytime promoting to make it obvious that these events are linked to the design festival. We also think that although secret messages are the main tool we would like to use, they cannot be too difficult to figure out as it may put people off attending events and just giving up. Word of mouth will also be important as the idea of growth is key. Hopefully as the nights progress, more and more people will learn about the events and artists that are collaborating within them, and check it out themselves.

I decided to look further into the Stereograms and came up with some possible flyer/poster ideas...

'Magic Eye'

I have used some of my photographs from the 'Speed of Light' event that I attended in March to create these stereograms as the imagery fits in perfectly with our ideas for the festival. They are also bright, eye catching and fun which I think will help to play on the public's interest. I will carry on looking into this area and refine the images for the final exhibition!

Experimenting

Ink in Water

On our third day as a group we have started to experiment with ink in water. We wanted to create visuals that refer to the fluidity that we have talked about in our festival. We also wanted to experiment with creating visuals for sound through the use of ink and speakers. Tom showed us how to do this and it created some amazing imagery! We filmed the results and Tom is now going to use his brilliant film making skills to create a promo video. It is such a useful experience watching people use their skills and learning from them!

Photo by Martina Billson

Experimenting together as a group has shown us that we work together well and could potentially learn so many skills from one another.