ABOVE: BILL VIOLA Angel at the Door 2013 Color High Definition Projection. Blain | Southern Gallery, photo: Kira Perov
Sussex, England — 7thSense Design, a specialist Media Serving technology firm for high performance attractions and entertainment spaces, has supplied Delta Media Servers to two art installations. Designed to showcase the work of internationally acclaimed artist, Bill Viola, the London-based installations use a range of new media to create art that focuses on the concepts behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, death and consciousness.
Contemporary video artist Bill Viola is globally recognized and renowned as a leading artist of the current generation. His exhibition history includes works at the National Gallery, London, Guggenheim Berlin, Whitney Museum of American Art, Getty Los Angeles and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Delta Media Server has been integrated as the media playback engine for two recent exhibits by the acclaimed artist.
The most recent is one of two new large-scale permanent installations at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. ‘Martyrs (Earth, Wind, Fire, Water)’ opened in May 2014 and comprises four large-format vertical plasma screens as the first moving-image artwork to be installed in a British cathedral or church on a long-term basis.
The first of the two installations, a temporary eight-week exhibition, was mounted and exhibited earlier in 2014 at London’s Hanover Square entitled ‘Frustrated Actions and Futile Gestures’. This represented nine of Viola’s works in a museum-style exhibition showcasing a mix of electronic, sound and image technology art. Presented in HD projection, the digital experience featured a range of display formats including large scale projections to both single and multi-display environments.
Long-term technology partner of Bill Viola and the company behind the installations, Associated Media Engineering (AME), provided all play-out systems design, sound playback design, control, integration and media finishing for the project. 7thSense was contracted to deliver Delta Media Server as the driving force for the displays by AME.