PLENUM
Plenum is a computer generated real-time architectural sound and light projection instigated by Simeon Nelson. It has been displayed at festivals and exhibitions in Europe, the UK and Australia in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The first iterations of this work were commissioned by Mario Caeiro, for the Skyway Festival, Torun, Poland, 2010. Subsequent versions were co-commissioned by Mario Caeiro and Artichoke, a London based commissioning organisation for an EU funded project, Lux Scientia.
Nick Rothwell created an algorithmic video projection that obeyed physical models relating to attraction and gravity. The sound and vision are timed to the same code so there is a strong isomorphism between them. This projection is in real time, it is non-linear and self generating, each time it is run it has different outcomes determined by the initial code parameters.
Simeon states:
It comes out of a fascination with fundamental processes of nature and is based on a series of my drawings that depict states of matter at very small scales. These drawings were based on the illustrations of crystal lattices found in solid-state physics textbooks. The projection cycle of Plenum is underpinned by a perfect grid of dots arranged in a crystalline matrix, new dots begin to appear forcing the surrounding dots apart so that after 15 minutes the entire grid is pulsating, swaying and liquefying with particles popping in and out of existence. The top layers of the grid begin to disintegrate into a gaseous state shooting off in seemingly random trajectories so that the projection runs a full sequence from a frozen state of absolute order through increasing entropy to a state of complete chaos.