SEPTEMBER | REVIEW
Beyond
eternity
Colin Nightingale fills Access in
on his work for Beyond The Road
Interactive theatre company Punchdrunk,
teamed up with musician James Lavelle
(UNKLE) to take over the top floor of Saatchi
Gallery. The deeply surreal experience
required immersive sound and visuals
What sort of kit was used for the audiovisual?
There are 64 audio channels and we have 75
speakers installed across the space from our
partner d&b audiotechnik. We are also using
their DS100 in one of the rooms to create the
spatial audio
What sort of research took place to achieve
the unique look, feel and sound of the event?
Stephen, Colin and Salvad
or first
experimented with the idea of deconstructing
a piece of music using the recording stems
and then rebuilding across multiple speakers
in 2017. This initial experiment led to a
focused session in summer 2018 when 30
mins of audio was created in seven days
which was then shared with a few select
people. This then led to the opportunity to
create a fully realised project complete with
visual components at Saatchi Gallery.
This initial experiment led to a focused
session in summer 2018 when 30 mins
of audio was created in seven days which
was then shared with a few select people.
This then led to the opportunity to create a
fully realised project complete with visual
components at Saatchi Gallery
What were the challenges with the build/
execution?
There was a short time period on site. The
sound design has to be created on situ and
so all the set walls and audio system had to
be installed in the first five days to then allow
two weeks for the audio to be created along
with the lighting, projections and artwork to
be integrated to create a cohesive experience.
How would you describe the event, and what
was the inspiration?
At its core it is a sound installation and the
experiment to deconstruct and rebuild sound
dimensionality was the catalyst. Finding
new ways to present music is something that
James, Stephen and myself are totally aligned
on. In Beyond The Road, by also incorporating
visual and film work encircles the UNKLE
creative universe, we have essentially made a
walk-through album experience.
Is there a bright future for multi-
sensory art exhibits such as this?
Definitely. As people become
more disconnected from tangible
emotional experiences by the
technology that is ironically
supposed to keep us connected,
then we need these types of projects
to bring people together to have
collective experience.
Photograph: Julian Abrams
24
The AV story: Over 400 tracks of
audio and sound design where
programmed and run on REAPER.
They are then bussed to 64 channels
on a DANTE network using d&b
audiotechnik DS100 as a routing
matrix and it’s En-Scene and En-
Space software for spatialisation.
There are 17 amps and 86 speakers
(including 9 subs) from our partners
d&b audiotechnik installed the
space as well as old phones and a
TV. These have been hacked in to
use their speakers and using DANTE
AVIO converters that translates the
DANTE signal to analogue.
Reaper transmits timecode to
QLab 4 software to trigger video and
Lighting on GrandMA2 On PC Wing
c/w NPU (supplied by Static Light
Company)
The Lighting was programmed
on a Grand MA2 Light console and
the following equipment is installed
across the space:
• 54 x Martin Mac Aura XB
• 4 x SGM Q-7 RGBW
• 13 x ETC Source 4 Mini
• 2 x Chauvet Ovation Min-E
• 6 x Le Maitre MVS Hazer
• (All supplied by Static Light
Company)
• 22 x Astera Titan Tube (Supplied
by Flare Lighting)
All film content is on Brightsign
HD224 Media Players and we are
also using 4 x Epson EB-L1755U
WUXGA Laser 3LCD Projectors
along with 1x Epson EB-L1755U
15000LM WUXGA Laser 3LCD
projector for the Doug Foster piece
'Sanctuary' which can be found in
a church structure we built within
the gallery. All these projectors
have been supplied by Creative
Technology Ltd.
The artist Tupac Martir is using
HYPERVSN 3D Holographic Displays
to create his piece Eriya which is
hidden within the experience for
audiences to discover.