PICTURE HOUSE: FILM, ART AND DESIGN AT BELSAY HALL
5 May - 20 September 2007, Belsay Hall, UK

I was invited by Dott07 programme director John Thackara to curate three commissions for the Picture House exhibition at Belsay Hall Castle and Gardens during the summer 2007. The three commissioned works were Aleph by Adam Somlai-Fischer & Bengt Sjölén, Ghost Pole Propagator by Golan Levin and Hereafter by UVA.

- Exhibition review by Régine Debatty / WMMNA: part 1 + part 2
- Photos from Picture House and Belsay Hall
- Picture House announcement @ Dott07 site
- Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens

ADAM SOMLAI FISCHER & BENGT SJÖLÉN: ALEPH

Made from 200 Citroen ZX electric mirrors controlled by cameras and computers, Aleph captures the vista of the spectacular formal gardens with their myriad of colours. As each mirror reflects a visual fragment, so together they present a whole, a dazzling matrix of dark reds, bright greens and purples - an experimental public display.

Adam Somlai-Fischer (1976 Budapest) is an artist, entrepreneur and architect. He is interested in the cultural qualities of new technologies, and to explore these he created artistic installations, software products and institutions. A supporter of peer production, Adam collaborates with designers, artists and engineers, where motivations are shared to create projects from conglomerates of thinking cultures.

Bengt Sjölén (Sweden) is an independent software and hardware designer/hacker/artist based in Stockholm with roots in the home computer demo scene. He mainly works in the areas of media art, science, sound, visuals, architecture and technology. He experiments with, amongst other things, programmatic generation of design, function, hardware and software

- The making of Aleph documentation by Adam & Bengt

GOLAN LEVIN: GHOST POLE PROPAGATOR

Levin's new interactive installation presents a phantom transcription of visitors to the Belsay Castle, recording and replaying highly abstracted 'skeletons' of the artwork's own observers. Projected on the walls of the castle's medieval kitchen, the quiet and otherworldly animations suggest the bustle of past ghosts, or ancient petroglyphs.

Golan Levin develops artifacts and events which explore supple new modes of reactive expression. His work focuses on the design of systems for the creation, manipulation and performance of simultaneous image and sound, as part of a more general inquiry into the formal language of interactivity, and of nonverbal communications protocols in cybernetic systems. Through performances, digital artifacts, and virtual environments, often created with a variety of collaborators, Levin applies creative twists to digital technologies that highlight our relationship with machines, make visible our ways of interacting with each other, and explore the intersection of abstract communication and interactivity.

- Golan Levin's website
- Ghost Pole Propagator

UVA: HEREAFTER

For Belsay UVA has created a 'history mirror' reflecting the images of visitors present and those whom have previously visited creating a changing and mysterious visual tableaux.

Established in 2003, United Visual Artists are an art and design practice based in London. UVA produce work at the intersection of sculpture, architecture, live performance, moving image and digital installation. UVA’s team members come from many disciplines including fine art, architecture, communication design, moving image, computer science and engineering. The cross-pollination of diverse skills inspires new fields of exploration, which is core to their ethos.

- UVA website
- Hereafter photos + videos at uva.co.uk

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Some snapshots of Belsay Hall Castle and Gardens: