Art and Ambience

Art Installations

LORDS OF LIGHTNING

by CARLOS VAN CAMP (NEW ZEALAND)

 
Lightning For Hire has been operating as a part time business out of New Zealand since 2000. As the founder of the company, my background is in electrical engineering.
I have been fascinated by lightning since I was a boy, and set about building Tesla coils as a way of producing it artificially. The Tesla coil was actually first invented over 100 years ago by a man named Nicola Tesla. Essentially a pulsed high frequency transformer, It uses the principle of resonance to achieve extremely high voltages. In the early days of experimenting in my garage, coils were made from junk parts. Even so, I had a machine that produced 1 meter long arcs. Watching the machine from a distance was getting boring, so I set about creating a platform on the machine to stand on so I could direct the lightning with my hands!
In my first attempt, a friend turned up the power slowly as I stood nervously awaiting the surge of power through my body...The machine crackled into life, and one foot long bolts emerged from my closed fists. The electric shock pulsing through my arms was bearable, but I new immediately that if I was to have bigger arcs come of my body, I would need to find an alternative path for the current. Excited, I quickly made a wire harness and connected one end to the plate I was standing on with the other end connected to the metal objects in my hands. This time the power was turned up high. With my hands above my head, I looked up to see 3 foot long bolts flashing above me. I quickly noticed a slight burning sensation on various parts of my body and found that my nose and elbows had 6 inch sparks flickering off them. Upon lowering my hands, I found that my head became alive with small arcs and I was forced to signal to turn off the machine! The only way to control larger arcs safely was to cover the body with a metallic suit which serves to conduct the current and also to keep the hot arcs off the skin. Our first job was to produce some high voltage effects for the Xena Show. Since then, we have performed various shows through out New Zealand and Australia, ranging from TV special effects, music festivals and corporate events...
 The large twin coil in our show reaches around 4 million volts, and can produce 5 meter long lightning bolts between the two towers!  STAND BACK, AND ENJOY THE SHOW

Out of the Darkness, comes the crackle of Lightning bolts crashing into the night from each of the two large Tesla coils!
The Lords of Lightning begin on a journey of discovery and interaction with the lightning... Climbing onto the machine, they harness the power to direct the bolts of lightning.
A dynamic battle emerges between the Lords... There can be only one!!!

Lords of Lightning is showing at all Big Day Out shows.

See http://www.lightningforhire.co.nz/ for more info.

SIDEWINDER by ROD NASH (AUSTRALIA)

Since 1788 many forms of culture have been transported to Australia and have coexisted along side indigenous culture.
Sidewinder is a dynamic sculptural work that instills a strange feeling of connection with the mythical landscape of Australia. Its form appears as a twisting spine, like some giant and ancient grub from the dreamtime. Its construction, however, is very much linked to rural engineering of galvanized windmills and huge irrigation structures. The rotating form is engulfed in a body of mist, representing the essential ingredient needed to sustain all life and offers the audience a chance to cool down and contemplate its beauty.

Rod Nash

Rod Nash works with sculptural-motion, harnessing a critique of technology combined
with a folk perspective to create stories about the journeys of time through engineering experiences.
Rod uses fabricated steel structures which are activated by mechanical components and driven by electric motors, petrol engines and environmental wind and solar energy.
Rod has been involved with Triclops International who have presented many BDO pyro- mechanical spectacles in the past, as well as numerous group and solo exhibitions and performances.

Sidewinder is showing at Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

See http://www.rodnash.net/ for more info on this artist.

FEUERWASSER by MILES & ZAI VAN DORSSEN (AUSTRALIA)

Feuerwasser displays a dynamic synthesis of elemental forces. Most often perceived as opposites that negate each other, fire and water are coerced together to create an astonishingly poetic tempest of pure energy. This work challenges preconceptions about the nature and behaviour of these fundamental forces, inciting the observer to contemplate the higher mysteries of matter and energy.
Presentation of the work hopes to invoke a symbolism rooted deep within the human body & psyche - a universal ritual of exertion and energy exchange, as is the BDO festival itself.

Feuerwasser is showing at Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

QUAD CUBATRON by MARK LOTTOR (USA)

3D graphics have come a long way in the last few decades but no matter how good it gets, the fact remains that all those fantastic software effects are merely a representation of 3 dimensions on a 2 dimensional screen.
The Quad Cubatron is a cubic array of 5760 colour changing RGB LED lights, all controlled by a computer. The result is a real 3 dimensional array of ‘pixels’ capable of incredibly beautiful animation and pattern effects. This 6 x 6 x 3 metre dynamic light sculpture is a must see in or around the Boiler Room at the Big Day Out 2008.

The Quad Cubatron is showing at Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

See http://www.cubatron.com  for more info on the Cubatron projects.

AR MAGIC SYSTEM by CLARA BOJ & DIEGO DIAZ (SPAIN)

Based on an augmented reality system, AR Magic System allows users to exchange heads with their neighbours. You stand in front of the computer screen, next to one or more persons and after a few seconds, your head appears on the shoulders of someone else and you get a new face yourself.
The magical aspect of this project is that it uses a very intuitive interaction for playing with the identity of the users. People just need to look at themselves in the video projection, then it acts like a mirror, and they will see their face interchanged with another person.
It is really amazing how people react when they look at themselves and see another face that is smiling or talking and they can not control the expression. It is as if somebody had supplanted your identity. For us, it was a real surprise to see how people enjoyed this very simple idea and they played for a long time and called their friends to see how it feels to be the other. One of the most magical aspects of this piece is how it plays with technological simplicity but with a really complex universe of meanings about identity.

Clara Boj and Diego Diaz have worked together since 2000. They have developed and exhibited their artistic and research projects all over the world.

AR Magic System is showing at Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

See http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/009823.php for more info on AR Magic System.

ROBOROCK by ROBOCROSS & GILES WALKER (GERMANY/SPAIN)

The Roborock stage brings together two artists, Frank Barnes & Giles Walker, that have not previously presented these works together. This world first for the Big Day Out sees Sticks, Frank’s robotic drummer, thrashing it out while the sexy robotic pole dancers from Giles shimmy their stuff.
Sticks Kicks Ass. This machine has four arms and two legs. It plays a full Pearl drum kit with double bass pedals. Each arm has 5 degrees of movement allowing one arm to be able to play four different drums or cymbals. Including the bass drum, this rocking robodrummer can handle a 17 piece kit. Its favourite music style at the moment is, of course, ROCK although it’s soon going to be learning how to play drum & bass too.

Those sexy pole dancers have got everyone watching but who’s watching you? 
 
With our world quickly filling up with robotic servants to industry and commerce, it’s inspiring to see some of this technology taken up for a bit of crazy fun.

  RoboRock is showing at Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

  See http://www.robocross.de/index.html
  & http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=146490824 for more
  info on these artists.