AMBIENTSCAPES - EXTERNAL NATURES ~ Chapman Gallery, Salford, UK. October - November 2006

Residency & Exhibition - During the first week of the exhibition, multimedia artist Sam Jones was be in residence at the gallery itself, as she monitored and analyzed the external environment for changes in sound, light and motion.

Visitors were invited to watch the artist at work as she collated the information to create her stunning site-specific artworks.



Throughout the exhibition visitors to the gallery were be able to view these Ambientscapes after dusk, creating a unique virtual window into the complex fluctuations of the physical world. Ambientscape - External Natures invited the viewer to reflect upon their immediate environment, as both a receptor and a creator of the virtual Ambients.

Ambients are graphical forms that react and evolve in response to changes in the physical built environment. External Natures was a large-scale multi-screen installation that featured stunning, three-dimensional Ambientscapes on the Chapman Gallery's 60ft panelled window.

Friday, 28th October 2005
Outsider art - Tim Birch ( City Life & Manchester Evening News)

THIS is the most unusual art show of the week for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the show’s open when the gallery’s shut. Secondly, the artist hasn't brought any art along. Intrigued?

Bereft of pictures or objects to plonk in situ, Jones is currently resident in the gallery making 'real time' art that responds to the immediate environment.

Using sleek software and sensory devices, she creates 3D 'ambientscapes' of the immediate vicinity. In short, any changes in the local light or sound affect the visualised outcome inside the gallery.

Dynamic

This is subtle yet dynamic art, perhaps suiting today's ever-changing, fast world. It's quietly interactive: some people will pass by without realising their role in the show. 

From Halloween weekend, intrepid strollers will be able to spy the fruits of Jones' labour. Eye-catching digital projections - inspired by local, changeable, sensory info - will be visible after dusk along this gallery's impressive 60ft panelled glass wall (arguably its best ever use).

Jones is an artist who asks the easily overlooked questions: beyond the 'who-and-what?' (eg 'Reubens' and 'portaiture'; 'Hirst' and 'shark'), this kind of art is primed by the 'where-when-how-and-why?

Installation Specification :

6 projections screens within the window(s) of the exhibition building.

Space : Visuals Back projected - 15 ft - 30 ft sq approx for each projection

3 x Free Standing Back Projection Screen or Terram/Scrim material : Approx 6 x 10 ft - 12 x 20 ft sq within window space.

3 x Data Projector’s :Back projected,with 10 x 12 ft.- 12 x 20 ft throw, approx dependent on Data Projector Lens

Data Projector for each projection + extention cable

Lighting :subdue/ dimmed, not completely darkened – flexible lighting system.

Hardware :

3 x Video Device:Firewire Web Cam (not usb) or digital video camera

3 x directional condenser microphone and audio extention cables 5 metres. 1 mic for each computer. For multiple microphone input to a single computer an audio interface or mixer will be needed.

3 x Apple Macintosh G5 Desktops for each projectionInternal power cables & extention cables.

+ Top + Review

This exhibition was part of the University Of Salford Arts Programme:

The Arts Unit
+44 [0] 161 295 5223
artsunit-amss@salford.ac.uk
www.arts.salford.ac.uk