Projection artist Ross Ashton and The Projection Studio produced another
spectacular work “The World Machine’ onto Durham Cathedral in the UK for the
2015 Durham Lumiere light festival which attracted upwards of 200,000 people to
the city over four nights of amazing light installations.
It was the fourth time that Projection Studio has created an art installation onto the
Cathedral, but the first time it’s been done using video projectors. In the past, PIGI
film projectors were used.
The projection system involved 14 Christie 20K machines which were positioned on
a series of custom towers and hides strategically located around the perimeter of
the Cathedral. This was carefully calculated to ensure that all the front facing walls
and their various return surfaces were evenly lit.
There is a depth differential of 25 metres from the front to the back projection
surfaces which included all three spires, and the cathedral is also made of dark
stone, presenting many technical challenges. The images filling the space measured
an impressive 160 metres wide by 60 metres tall.
d3 was chosen for control, for its flexibility and superior blending and mapping
qualities. The show was 3D modelled in the d3 system enabling a detailed and
complete wrap of the building to be produced. A designated UNESCO heritage site
completed in 1096, it is one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in the
world.
Ashton also produced all the digital art working in close collaboration with the
Cosmology and History departments of Durham University and the staff of Durham
Cathedral library. All contributed ideas to the concept which was initially inspired by
the scientific work of English thinker, scientist and philosopher Robert Grosseteste
(c1170-1253).
His specific writings included “De Luce, seu de incohatione formarum’ (On Light and
the Beginning of Forms) which described a medieval “big-bang’ theory, and this was
a starting point for “The World Machine’.
Light is prominent throughout all Grosseteste’s works, which suggests that the
simplest form of the universe was composed from first matter (dark matter) and
first form. To him, the “first form’ was light.
Ashton was granted access to the vast facilities, interdisciplinary resources and
archives at the University and the Cathedral. Around 6 months of meticulous
research preceded the compilation of all the ideas and findings into a storyboard …
that would be a meaningful, entertaining and accessible 13 minute large format
projection and son et lumiere spectacle show to be shared with and enjoyed by the
public.
Original materials used by Ashton in the show included renders generated by
Durham University’s super-computer related to the research of dark matter, planets
and galaxies and investigations into supernovas. There were also visualisations of
the universe “created’ by the mathematical calculations of Grosseteste which were
fed into the computer and proved an extremely accurate replication of what he
would have understood to be “the universe’ during his lifetime.
Ashton worked closely with Projection Studio’s Sang Gun Kim, who led the team
compiling all the 3D motion graphics and imaging making up the show content.
The projectors, control and hardware was supplied by QED and co-ordinated by Dan
Gray who also programmed and operated the d3. A fabulous sound design was
created by John del Nero working with Sebastian Frost.
On the final Saturday and Sunday nights, for a period the projection team created
new artwork that lit the Cathedral in blue, white and red to stand in solidarity with
Paris in the wake of the terror attacks.
