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DUKE RESIDENT JOE MASON CREATES NEW WORK FOR LIGHT ODYSSEY


22/11/18

 

Duke Resident Joe Mason has just completed a major project, and it might just be his favourite one to date. Light Odyssey, a project Commissioned for the Lightpool Festival 2018 with support from the Arts Council England.

 

 

Joe is an artist and designer specialising in animation and interaction design. Over the last 15 years he has made projects around the world, including award winning designs for websites and mobile applications. With a firm interest in new technologies and formats for storytelling, and in particular virtual and augmented realities - This major piece was the first opportunity to step up and out his comfort zone discovering a whole new creative area to funnel his practice into.

 

 

The brief was, in short, to create an animated projection to be streamed alongside a piece of music to be played live by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in the Empress Ballroom as part of Lightpool Festival 2018. To create a harmonious immersive experience for the audience to witness these classics with a phenomenal feast for the eyes.

 

The piece Joe was assigned was Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. He was keen to create something that bared witness to the masterpiece: ‘It is a reflection on the harmony in nature and the character of human life, an uplifting and tragic piece: beautiful and humbling. Despite the conflict in Adagio, it feels optimistic. The tension builds, ending suddenly before the melody builds once more. Endings are inevitable, but they allow us to begin again in new ways never previously thought possible. Life relentlessly continues, onwards and upwards.’

 

 

In his preliminary sketches and mock ups he explored the changing moods of the music and the visuals that could be derived from it - while also taking inspiration from the aesthetics ballroom itself. They were ‘Inspired by 19th century natural science artworks such as Darwin's Beagle specimens, and modern microscopic photography.’

 

 

The resulting final frames are refined, organic and beautiful. Being able to see the direct link from the initial flow of inspiration into the final projections was hugely important in retaining the core instinctive reactions and inspirations from the music. ‘The visual sequence captures an evolution of abstract mark making, lines and form. A primordial microclimate rises and eventually falls, giving way to another otherworldly presence.’ Further images of the development can be found on his webiste here.

 

 

The resulting live performance was a triumph. As Sandra Mangan notes for the North West End - ‘The evening was a feast for the ears and the imagination, and at the heart of it all was the BBC Philharmonic and their conductor Eivind Aadland, whose effusive conducting style sat well with the ambience of the evening.’ The full article can be found here.

 

 

We are already in talks to create something magic here in Sheaf St for Leeds Light Night 2019, but we suspect this is likely only the very beginning of the stunning, emphatic projected animations we will see him create.

 

 

Top phototgraphy Credit - Martin Bostock