At the Vanishing Point – audio-visual installation

‘At the Vanishing Point’ explores embodiment, intimacy, the natural and abstraction. In this spatially arranged installation, a soundscape and a screen dance film melt into an immersive synaesthetic experience.

During the creation, two physical sites were investigated through a somatic approach: a human body and Porthleven, a Cornish town with its natural surroundings.

The installation implies an audio trail and a rectangular space which is deliberately loosely defined by hanging panels of fabric. The rectangle frames cushions and mats in front of a rear projection screen. Four speakers provide sound within the rectangle.

The sonic pathway of four speakers guides the audience into the installation and fills the space with acoustic textures. Moving through the soundscape, the audience is stimulated to shift their sensory focus from seeing to hearing.

The imagery created by close-ups of physical textures such as skin, flesh and muscles provides an intimate view on the human body. Gradually, those images merge into vivid colours and textures which blend in with the acoustic realm.

’At the Vanishing Point’ is composed in order to evoke a somatic resonance within the audience through its specific implementation of sound, imagery, movement and colour. The setting invites them to freely explore the installation whilst providing a clear frame through its spatial arrangements and its composition of sound and visuals: The audience can let go into a sensation of timelessness and become immersed into sound, physicality and colour.

The project can be installed both as a durational and as a one-time event (20 Minutes).

idea & concept: Stephanie Scheubeck & Ciaran Markey

director & choreographer: Stephanie Scheubeck

sound design: Ciaran Markey

live sound performance: Ciaran Markey

performer: Manuela Jara

sound recordings: Holly Anna Early & Stephanie Scheubeck

camera: Scott Sandford & Stephanie Scheubeck

edit: Stephanie Scheubeck

Premiere: 06/2017 – Bath Spa University, Bath, UK

Exhibitions:
11/2018 – Exhibition Videoskin – The Edge Art Gallery – Whitehorse / Yukon – Canada

09/2017 – Symposium ’Bodily Undoing – Somatic Activism and Performance Cultures as Practices of Critique’, Bath Spa University, UK

06/2018 – Symposium ’AVBody – Symposium on the Audiovisual Body’, Huddersfield University, UK