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.

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

Director: Christopher Thomas Allen
Producer: Andrew Hinton
Assistant Producer: Alice Ceresole

True Fictions is the result of a year long digital performance art project, produced and directed by Christopher Thomas Allen and commissioned by EMPAC, The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Centre in Troy, New York.

It is a live audio visual spectacle that fuses documentary film making, music, animation and motion graphics with cutting edge digital performance tools. A stunning collage of music and live cinema which explores the themes of truth and myth through a multitude of American and Native American voices; with a original musical score created through the collaborations of 25 New York based musicians and vocal artists.

The final performance was completed and presented in September 2007 at EMPAC and has gone on to tour other media & arts festivals internationally.

For more back ground information about how this project was devloped please visit: http://www.avfolklore.blogspot.com
For more video excerpts from the project please visit: http://vimeo.com/channels/truefictions

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True Fictions is currently being performed by:

Christopher Allen (audio & video)
Tim Cowie (audio & video)
Malcom Litson (audio & analogue operations)
Mark McRae (live guitars & keys)
Matt Waterfield (lighting & technical support)

Touring:

The Armour, EMPAC, Troy, New York, USA, September, 2007
The Great Hall, Urban Screens Festival, Manchester, UK, October, 2007
Teatro degli Arcimboldi, Milano, Italy, November, 2007
ZEMOS98 Festival, Seville, Spain, March, 2008
IMAX Cinema, onedotzero festival, BFI Southbank, London, November, 2008
Brighton Pavilion, Loop Festival, Brighton, July, 2009
Waterfront, TRANS Festival, Captalist Arts, Belfast, July, 2009
Rotuda3, HITEC, Mirowave Festival, Hong-Kong, November, 2009

Project Produced & Directed by Christopher Thomas Allen

Cinematography: Christopher Thomas Allen & Robert Pyecroft-Rainbow
Photography:Christopher Thomas Allen, Robert Pyecroft-Rainbow & Helen Omand
Edited: Christopher Thomas Allen, James Price & Tim Cowie
Animation: Martin Banks, Tim Cowie & Blinkinlab
Audio Interviews: Christopher Thomas Allen, Robert Pyecroft-Rainbow & Jo Williamson
Assistant Producer: Annie Kwan
NYC Production Co-ordination: Sarah Pace
Research & location Production: Helen Omand
Studio Sound Recording & Initial Arrangements: Ben Allen
Music Production & Arrangements: Tim Cowie
Addition Audio Production: Malcom Litson & Jude Greenaway

Special thanks to:

The Seneca-Iroquois National Museum, Salamanca
The Ronathahonni Cultural Center, Cornwall Island, Ontario
Nichols Meat Processing, Altamont, NY
David Lublin & Ray Cutler at VIDVOX
Kathleen Forde, Jason Steven Murphy and all the staff at EMPAC

An EMPAC Commission supported by The Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts NY

New York Musical Contributors: