A S T R O G A T E

“To navigate through space.”

The aim of this project was to create an online exhibition that directly investigates the in-between spaces where the digital, physical and fictional overlap and interest. Throughout the website, visual imagery has been designed to address contemporary life through the exploration of ‘virtual’ spaces and question ‘what is our current experience of reality?’ The online exhibition opens the door to an alternative dimension, displaying visual spectacles of breath-taking theatrical quality and technical skill.

Astrogate seeks to create an immersive experience of cinematic quality, translating narrative and connecting to its audience on an emotional level.

In the contemporary world we inhabit today, the digital revolution has led to a shift in human perception, altering the dynamic of our everyday experience. Technology is used as a tool to connect ‘fiction’ and ‘reality’.

The creation of Astrogate touches upon our increasing dependence on the virtual world of the Internet; the place in which we inhabit today is something similar to a shadowy mirror space where two worlds collide. When these two separates; virtual and reality meet, what do we experience? One could argue that both these worlds are actually real, as the virtual digital world defiantly has an genuine impact on our physical lives. But for my purposes I would like to establish that this in-between space - which I want to define as the expanded mirror space we exist in most of the time nowadays - is a real space. It is this mirror-space, this land of the in-between that is visualized through out the exhibition. The mirror is after all, a utopia, since it is a placeless place. We see our self there where we are not, in the illusion of another space, which opens up beneath the surface of technology.

The enfolded nature of the surface and sometimes the generative abyss, which lies beneath, is communicated by medium of visual language. J.G Ballard suggests this new dimension of reality can be understood as "as kind of collective lucid dreaming." 

Project Evaluation 

The aim of this project was to create an online exhibition that directly investigates the in-between spaces where the digital, physical and fictional overlap and interest. Throughout the website, visual imagery has been designed to address contemporary life through the exploration of ‘virtual’ spaces and question ‘what is our current experience of reality?’.

Through out the production of my final major project I have developed my ability as a creative practitioner, driving myself to produce unique and exceptionally innovative professional work. By undertaking an extensive amount of research, focusing on new media art and future innovations of technology, prior to the production of the project has supported concept development and the contextual underpinning that has formed Astrogate. Drawing upon this comprehensive research throughout has ensured an output that is more ambiguous than I had expected.

The final output of this project, an online – interactive exhibition titled Astrogate; presents an exception variety of both technical and creative skill. This not only reflects a possible vision of the future but also reflects how diverse my abilities as a creative have become. Over the past few months I have endeavored to explore my abilities as a creative practitioner by experimenting with abstract artistic practice. In doing so I have fought with an extortionate amount of self-doubt, which has threatened the overall success of the online exhibition. Through communicating with both lecturers and industry professionals I have learnt how crucial it is to actually feel this way. The creative industry of today is saturated with copycat work that has been seen time and time again; many artists now work in a very confirmative way. The way I explored and experimented ­with such a range of different mediums has facilitated the creation of extraordinarily rare visual outputs. I have embraced an array of different techniques in order to achieve this level of individuality within my work. Testing products and materials you would not normally expect has enabled me to develop my own style of work that can be clearly distinguished. I see art as a process of layering, combining a variety of ingredients to create something spectacular that is completely unique in contrast to each individual element that has been used. Learning the importance of how each of these elements work together has allowed the project to be driven forward in pace and merit. At the end of each shoot I established what techniques used were most effective, for example both vortograph’s and glass screens were used in multiple shoots. Recognizing their success allowed me to tailor future concepts to fit with specific techniques. This allowed me to push each initial method further within the second use. For example, when I developed the look I wanted to display within the series ‘Divergence’ I combined the use of paint on glass as well as double exposure and flash to create a series of images are visually remarkable. After imagery was complete I received an overwhelmingly positive response to my work, with many individuals left perplexed with how I was able to created so many layers within an image without the assistance of post production or special effects.  This has supported the development of my ability to conceive, develop and produce a fully functional, highly innovative online exhibition.

Creating a strong social media network has been an important aid to receiving industry recognition for my online exhibition. In my original production schedule I had allocated the first week to be used to create these networks, I decided to reschedule this part of the project towards the end of production. This enabled me to share finished pieces of work as a whole series, giving the viewing a strong insight into what the final exhibition would display. My exhibition has been recognised and approved from a wide variety of different professionals. These include Daniel Lismore (Creative Director for Sorapol London), multiple international photographers, web designers, musicians, Rebel artist management, and Illamasqua. Social media is undoubtedly the most power form of marketing and market research the world has ever had.  Learning how to utilise these platforms has been, without doubt, has been paramount to ensuring my project is relevant to the creative industry. Social media provides a platform that enables you to connect to an unlimited audience across the world, which you can interact with instantly. Through the connections I have made via these platforms Astrogate is set to be featured on the cover of a magazine, on an upcoming mobile application; Creative Connections and used as album art that will be available on iTunes. This will also extensively expand the reach of my online exhibition.

Collaboration was key to the success of this project. Working with a variety of different photographers allowed me to produce professional and visually stimulating imagery. Making these connections early on allowed me to build a strong report with highly skilled photography students that would help to ensure that the final imagery was produced to the most professional standard possible. Having a team that I could rely upon allowed me to focus directly on the concept and creative direction of each shoot. This is a role I have come to thrive in, looking at the creative process from a different angle rather than just through the eyes of a make-up artist. Intensive planning and preparation before each shoot allowed me to communicate my conceptual and technical requirements for every series of images to the team clearly. Compiling call sheets facilitated this to be done in a professional manor and also preparing everybody to work coherently on the day of shooting without confusion.    

The most challenging stage of the project was in the production and development of the website that would feature the online exhibition. I had originally set out to collaborate with a professional web designer as I felt this was something I would be unable to construct myself with no previous experience in this area. After numerous call outs for collaborators with no prevail I had to rethink how I would make this part of the project a success on my own. Reducing the amount of technicalities and focusing more on the imagery that would be displayed throughout was a fundamental adaption to make in order to ensure the success of the website. Initially I found it a challenge to design an eye-catching logo. After playing around with a variety of complex designs I made the radical decision to strip back all of my graphics and centre the site around simple, yet effect graphic shapes. For me it is often easy for things to become over complicated, my mind works in such a creative manor I often struggle to identify when I am pushing to presentation of work to far. The exhibition needed to be clear and easy to navigate in order to hold the viewers interest long enough for them to explore every page presented. After consulting one of my tutors I was reassured when they showed me an example of a website which was technically ground breaking, but exceptionally difficult for the user to work. A site might have fantastic aesthetics but if it is not useable to the everyday individual it is completely ineffective. Completing the construction of the website three weeks before the end of the project allowed time to undertake market research and access how user friendly the site was. This was absolutely critical, as through this research I was made aware of a number of alteration that needed to be put into effect in order for the user to navigate through each page without difficulty.

Much of the production and development was a success, but a few issues threatened the completion of ‘Astrogate’. One of the most threatening elements of the project was working with a photographer who failed to shoot my imagery in a raw format. Without this an entire series of images were produced at a very low resolution and did not display the professional finish that I had obtained within the rest of my work. Initially I had considered the complete withdrawal of the Fibre Optic series, as I did not want to feature inconsistencies in my exhibition. With this said, I still felt the concept and visuals produced where in themself successful. A way to still display this work was to feature social network exclusives. This allows the viewer to grasp an inside view into the development of the project.   

Small changes were made during the development of the project that I had set out to include. I had planned to develop moving imagery for each conceptual series. This was something extra that I soon established did not add anything to the exhibition. The images displayed create a high impact on the viewer as stills. Instead I have displayed a few moving GIFS on my social media pages.

Further improvement could have been made to the project ‘Astrogate’ by having a physical exhibition as well as a virtual one. Although this was imperative to my concept, displaying my artwork on a large scale would have been an incredible climax to the project. The immersive atmosphere of an exhibition like ‘Mirror City’, which I reviewed during the project proposal, cannot be matched online. This is something I would like to explore in the future. The development of this project has endless possibilities, what I have explored so far is just the beginning. Technology is evolving at an unimaginable speed, as this happens so does our current experience of reality. If I were to take this project further in the form of a Master’s Degree I would focus on the incorporation of technology and the body and how we might use technology to enhance and improve physical human ability.