Journey to Scotland
Journey to Scotland is an interactive installation/performance tool where visitors can adjust a set of animated images and audio tracks in real time to create a narrative or abstract art.
The narrative portion displays animated vector graphics that document the journey: from an introduction showing the European map, zooming in and following an airplane towards Scotland, to local cities, landscapes, and monuments.
The scenes are inspired by my personal experience of getting into Scotland, based on photographs I took along.
The plane passing above a large street lamp is inspired by a photograph I took in Glasgow, during my very first trip to Scotland.
The default hues for each scene are blue, white (the Scottish national colors), and yellow, to symbolize a warm, welcoming atmosphere. This particular frame depicts Edinburgh and is based on a photo I took during my first visit to the city.
The train passing on a bridge is based on my photo of the iconic Forth Bridge. However, it can represent any other, as it is possible to add a layer of mountains in the background to create a transition between places.
The last two specific scenes show the city of Dundee, where I eventually settled in. Both of them can be manipulated to change the weather to show the place in any season.
There are eight scenes, each with additional layers that can be added to change the weather, geographical features, or to add abstract motives. Both scenes and layers have assigned music that can be modified together with the animated projection to create over 16,000 variations. That is where the abstract portion of the installation comes into play, as users can improvise and push the modulation to levels that completely overwrite the initial pictures. Together with synchronized audio equalization, it offers an immersive, playful experience.
The installation had its debut in the Centrespace, Dundee Contemporary Arts (Dundee, Scotland), 10-11 March 2017:
The Journey to Scotland was then shown in the UK and China as performances, including a version mapped on a building's facade.
feedback from the visitors:
“I wish I could have it at home”
“The audio is insane, great work!”
“I could play with this for hours”
“The future!”