BREAD art logo type
participation | media | technology | art
about

when the lights go out

When The Lights Go Out was a collaboration with composer Eve Harrison Blue Touch Paper New Work Night commissioned by London Sinfonietta and the Jerwood Foundation presented at the ICA, London in May 2014

This was a development programme that considered dreaming and the ritual of sleep through interactive musical and visual sketches which explore the smartphone’s role in an immersive and interactive multi-disciplinary work.

We divided the audience's journey into to four phases to build up their engagement with the event over a period of time

The section was a remote interaction with the audience via text message prior to the event itself. We introduced the dreaming narrative, invited our audience to submit images of their beds and also offered a chance to familiarise and play with the works' musical themes through a webapp sketch.
electroconnecto.com/clients/btp/app/

The second phase took place in the foyer and presented interactive sketches for the audience to explore. The space greeted you personally - if you texted "hello" a greeting that included your name was shown. The audience could also play with our Glue technology that allowed them to curate their own sunset within the performance space using their smartphone.

Phase three was the performance. Flute, clarinet and string quartet performed a new fifteen minute piece of music composed by Eve. The audience experienced an enhanced performance through a webapp on their smartphone which provided visual context for the music by receiving images and colours sent in real time.

The interactive nature of the performance was enhanced by the musicians on-stage using their own smartphones to turn out the stage lights before they began playing.

The performance ended by an eruption of birdsong forming a dawn chorus played through the audience's phone handsets. Each handset downloaded a different song which were then triggered in unison. A playful and surprising end to an immersive experience.

The event was brought to a close the next day by sending a recorded momento of the musicians imitating birdsong to audience members.

e:dboultbee@gmail.com t:+44 (0) 774 884 7029

site design by David Boultbee ©2013


we are BREAD art

We create unexpected encounters which gently ask you to slow down, stop for a moment and take in your surroundings in the hope that you'll notice something new.

We are artists, makers and creative thinkers, with strong social focus, inspired by spaces and the public realm. We use light, sound and interactive technologies to create the unexpected and seemingly impossible.

We create original and engaging works - multi-sensory experiences, often integrating visual, audible and interactive elements, that invite discovery, develop a sense of place, and encourage audience interactivity with both the work and each other.

We have wide expertise. We develop exciting and ambitious projects. Our creative thinking is backed by the experience to deliver. We work across varied locations, indoors and out, in harsh environments and on sensitive sites.

Our work ranges from community consultation and design and build for the public realm to bespoke creative technology development for private projects. Clients include local authorities, arts organisations, national museums and international companies.

Access to art and creativity is empowering. It engenders a feeling of having a voice, develops a profound sense of identity, ownership of and belonging to the places where we live, and provides a forum from which to explore our own surroundings and links to others.

BREAD delivered its first project in 2009 and is led by David Boultbee

e:david@breadart.co.uk t:+44 (0) 774 884 7029

projects