“Voyagers” is a permanent audio video installation by The Light Surgeons for the National Maritime Museum’s new Sammy Ofer Wing. The Voyagers Gallery acts as an introduction to the extraordinary depth and range of the Museum’s collections and is dominated by a 20 metre wave-like structure that stretches the full length of the room. Designed by exhibition designers Real Studio, this 3D wave is made up of 26 triangular facets and features a Pufferfish spherical projector at one end.

Using the triangular shape as a design template The Light Surgeons researched and meta tagged over 300 images and films from the Museum’s vast archives and translated them into a series of thematic visual journeys that unfold down the wave. As these designs cascade down the room, the globe projection displays thematic key words relating to each asset in the journey onto a digital navigational device inspired by the museums collection of armillary spheres.

For this technically complex project The Light Surgeons collaborated with media artist James George from New York studio Flightphase to translate their concepts into code based design. The resulting bespoke software was built using open source coding platform openFrameworks and lead to many new ground breaking developments; allowing the design of the installation to be explored in a simulated environment before the gallery was built and then to seamlessly video map the complex geometry of the wave structure upon its arrival. This collaboration also lead to many exciting developments in the creative process including the creation of a totally generative sea of typography and its interaction with the movement of the spherical Puffersphere design.

The resulting experience is a truly immersive one that takes its audience on a audio visual journey through a multitude of different themes explored by the museums collections.

Broadcast title sequence for prime time UK TV show “How Hip Hop Changed The World” presented by Idris Elba.
Commissioned by Jamie Oliver’s Fresh One Productions and broadcast on Channel4 in 2011.

LDN24 is a media art installation by The Light Surgeons for the Museum of London‘s Sackler Hall. It presents an anthropomorphic portrait of London that reveals the abstract dance of this 24-hour city. It explores the capital as a physical organism and its hidden relationship with a larger, digital landscape, creating a cardiogram of the city that perpetually reflects the ‘now’.

The film was created by a group of visual artist through an extensive series of visual studies around London in 2009. The resulting 30 minute film charts a daily cycle of the city which is then translated onto the surrounding LED curatin as a stream of live data feeds. These information feeds are being continually updated via the web and continually re-printed by the hands of a giant RGB clock.

LDN24 is a commission by the Museum of London in collaboration with Film London.

Director: Christopher Allen
Producer: Alice Ceresole
Editor: Tim Cowie
Visual Production: Christopher Allen, Tim Cowie, Dean Moore, James Price, Rita Ribas, Stuart York
Data Visualisation: Field.io
Sound Design: Tim Cowie, Malcolm Litson
Locations: Alice Ceresole, Dan Fellows
Research: Peter Brenan, Laura Hannay
Production Assistant: Helen Omand

Support from:

BAA Heathrow, Broadgate Estates, Regis House (London Bridge), Bywaters, City Academy Hackney, City of London Corporation, Billingsgate Market, City of London Film Office, City of London Police, Smithfield Market, Clissold Leisure Centre, Cory Environmental Limited, Film London, Greater London Authority, Invista Real Estate, Investment Management, Land Securities, IPC Helipad, London Borough Film Units, London Underground Film Office, More London Estates Ltd, Network Rail, Newsfax International Ltd, Novotel London St Pancras, Panasonic UK, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tesco

Special thanks to:

Bob and Maggie Allen, Kevin Foakes, Helen Omand, Ed Purver, Olivier Ruellet, Laura Hannay, Victoria Tremble
The installation will be on display in the museum until 2012 and is free entry to the public.

The Light Surgeons where commissioned create the visuals for the after party for prestigious Design & Art Direction Awards at the Roundhouse in London in 2010. The bespoke visuals were inspired by the theme ‘tools of the trade’ and combined generative, processing visuals that where mixed with motion graphics.

The event also featured live sets by Fyfe Dangefeld and Chew Lips for whom we also provided visuals.

Directed by Chris Allen
Filmed by Chris Allen and Dean G Moore
Edited by Jude Greenaway and Dean G Moore
Programming by Olivier Reullet
Live mixing on the night Chris Allen and Olivier Ruellet
Produced by Alice Ceresole

Documentation edited by Dean G Moore
Music:  Opiuo “The Freaky Bean”

With thanks to London College of Communications who let us film their fantastic letter presses.

The programme has been developed to showcase objects from the Crafts Council Collection – CraftCube: Collection – and to champion the work of Research Fellows that are at the cutting edge of contemporary practice – CraftCube: Research. Each CraftCube is an individual display environment, including objects and interpretation.

GRAY TWISTED LOOP: MERETE RASMUSSEN

The film features a set of two synchronized short films which reveal the ceramic processes involved in the creation of the piece entitled “Twisted Grey Loop”. Put together by The Light Surgeons they form the audio visual content produced for the Craft Council’s set of touring installations, know as The CraftCube initiative.

In this instant, the film on the top was projected onto a large projection surface on the wall of the CraftCube, while the film on the bottom was presented through large plasma screen embedded into the surface of a display case, which also houses the finished object its self.

NAP: ANGELA JARMAN

The film features a set of two synchronized short films which together protrait the processes involved in the creation of a piece of her worked entitled “NAP”. Put together by The Light Surgeons they form the audio visual content produced for the Craft Council’s set of touring installations, know as The CraftCube initiative.

The film on the top was projected onto a large projection surface on the wall of the CraftCube, while the film on the bottom was presented through large plasma screen embedded into the surface of a display case, which also houses the finished object itself.

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Director and editor: Tim Cowie
Camera: Dave Baum
Producer: Alice Ceresole
Design and build of cube: Millimetre

Short music lead video documenting life in London using footage taken from our LDN24 installation project at the Museum of London. All footage in this film was shot using Panasonic’s Lumix GH1 micro SLR digital camera which was loaned to us by Panasonic during the production phase of the installation.

The film uses the track “All Covered in Darkness” by our good friend Mr Dj Food and was created specially for Panasonic’s website.

Director: Christopher Allen
Producer: Alice Ceresole
Editor: Christopher Allen
Camera: Christopher Allen, Tim Cowie, James Price & Stuart York

This audio visual installation was produced in collaboration with Ron Arad associates and commissioned by fashion company Notify for the Pitti Uomo 77 men’s fashion fair in Florence in 2010. The project explores the various manufacturing processes involved in the production of Notify jeans and shoes, turning these hand made and mechanical processes into an abstract piece of futurist art. The final installation used a 30 metre long wall of 6mm pitch LED covered with a thin membrate of plastic with an additional set of video projection over the top. The peice was on display for 5 days during the fashion fair.

Camera & Direction: Chris Allen, Jude Greenaway & Barney Steel
Editing: Jude Greenaway & Jolyon Greenaway
Motion: Jolyon Greenaway
Music: digitalaudiodesign.co.uk
Production: Alice Ceresole & Miranda Davis

Maybe some people are just born unlucky? This documentary film weaves together a diverse collection of different voices from London’s Jewish community to explore the concept of “luck” or “mazel”. From lucky charms and curses to global economics and quantum physics, this humorous and philosophical piece of visual poetry navigates the boundaries between religion and superstition to ask how the invisible hand of mazel has touched us all.

Commissed by The Jewish Film Festival & supported by the Pears Foundation
Co-producted with Pilgrim Films in 2009

Festivals:

UK Jewish Film Festival 2009
London Short Film Festival 2010
SXSW 2010
Hackney Film Festival 2010
Vimeo Awards 2010