Veuve Clicquot
description:
A Jason Bruges Studio project:As the Veuve Clicquot artist in residence for 2008, Jason Bruges Studio has created an installation which explores the thrill of speed. Motor cars create an aural landscape at Goodwood, roaring along the track at amazing velocities. As a metaphor for speed, this sound will be transformed back to movement through the animation of silken flags installed by the Studio on the Veuve Clicquot lawn.
The impact of a passing car resonates through the array. The flags are individually controlled to point at the cars position on the course, and their collective behaviour generates a composition representative of the movement. Each time -trial creates a unique fabric notation which responds to the racing line and strategy of each driver.
Referencing the symbolism of racing flags, the atmosphere of Goodwood will emerge as patterns of motion as the cloth moves through the air, choreographed by speed.
This temporary installation will be the first part of a trilogy for Veuve CliccquotÕs Season. Following the Festival of Speed, it will next be seen watching the Polo Gold Cup at Cowdray Park. In September, it will return for the Goodwood Revival.
At 4m high, the flags form a matrix containing more than 30 individual nodes, each programmed to respond to specific variables of activity. The ephemeral array will sit within the scenery of seasonal events; of pennants, bunting and billowing flags. Event data is recorded, analysed and finally played back as part of a performance at the end of the tour.
In order to control the flags, an application was built using Processing that could work for all three of the intended installations. For the Festival of Speed, the software had to communicate to a bespoke wireless mesh sensor system, and use the data to interpolate the position of the race car along the track. In the case of the Polo, the software had to be able to take in various video feeds and track the movements of the polo players around the field. The resulting positions informed the flags of the relative location of the tracked object and the flags all turned to follow accordingly.
A few notable elements of the software:
It had to have the ability to easily change the on-screen positions of the flags and microphone sensors.
It had to be able to re-zero the individual motors in the motor control system, by activating and deactivating individual motors at a whim.
It had to be extremely responsive and offer enough visual feedback to be able to quickly debug the system while in motion.
The front end needed to be simple enough for anyone to control. The complexity and various methods of communication were well hidden 'under the hood'
The team included Jason Bruges, Zena Bruges, Ed Rose, Josephine Callaghan, Dean Mumford, Jonny Banton, Zach Eveland