Last week we were treated to a Lunchtime Talk on Hidden Fields a project by one of our Studio Residents David Glowaki. danceroom Spectroscopy is part science installation, part video game, part art project and part social experience. Described as quantum mechanics on LSD, dS is a simulation of the invisible atomic world that surrounds us.

David opened the talk by posing the question, what happens when scientists do art projects? Apparently they come up with the most awkward name an arts project could have: danceroom Spectroscopy. Hardly anyone could pronounce it, and even less knew what it meant.

Spectroscopy is: The use of light to obtain information about matter. David went on to explain that our eyes are actually little spectrometers, but because they have a relatively slow time resolution they can only see a tiny fraction of all the kinds of light that there are.

What might our eyes see if they were able to resolve the microscopic nano-world?
 
Scientists have been imagining what the molecular world looks like for hundreds of years. We’ve become so accustomed to the ‘balls and sticks’ and ‘ribbons’ offered to suggest atomic structures that we take them to be truth. We forget that scientists are just trying to find ways to represent the world around us, and abstract interpretations can be just as valid.
 
David went on to explain about what other things we would see if we could view the microscopic nano-world. We would see that everything moves on a molecular scale. Atoms feel forces from other atoms, they interact with each other, and they are constantly vibrating. Although we can’t physically see the atoms vibrating, we know they do.

danceroom Spectroscopy was created because David wanted to create a physical representation of this nano-world. He wanted to know if it was ‘possible to literally step into and interact with and hear a nano-scale energy landscape?’

One of the first major barriers that David came up against when trying to create dS was his funding proposal. A stipulation in the funding application meant that the project had to be backed by an academic professor. Although many were intrigued they either didn’t get round to reading the proposal or didn’t feel comfortable putting their name to the project. Luckily with just days until the deadline, Professor Mike Ashfold from Bristol University stepped forward and the project got the go ahead.

Using quantum mechanics; the mathematical theory that determines how energy and matter interacts, and 3D imaging, David has created danceroom Spectroscopy. danceroom Spectroscopy is a simulation of the nano-world on a large scale. It transforms people into energy fields, where there movement triggers sounds and images. Due to energy landscaping the more you interact with the nano-world, the more that happens.

Hidden Fields is a dance performance that visualises human energy flow. David decided to work with a choreographer and dancers to show the beauty that can be created in the nano-world. Dancers are able to control and manipulate their bodies, they have a greater control over their energy fields and therefore over the atoms and particles. They make interesting interactions; they can transfer energy between each other and manipulate matter.  

The project sits between many genres; from a science installation to an art project. David spoke of the similarities between Art and Science, and their shared goal to represent the unseen parts of the world and humanity. The project has also been described as part video game and David spoke of the difference between conventional games, and dS. Games are getting increasingly closer to real life.  You’re an avatar in a world that looks exactly like the one you inhabit. What dS represents is an interesting alternative to traditional video games. It gets people playing, talking and broadens their mind.

Hidden Fields is premiering at the Arnolfini on the 21 of July during Bristol’s harbourside festival. It is also open as a free interactive installation between shows and on the 22 July. It is then becoming part of the Cultural Olympiad in a 360° projection dome in Weymouth where the installation will be open on the 4 August the performance of Hidden Fields will show on the 5 August.

Visit http://danceroom-spec.com/ to books tickets, watch videos and find out more information.

Twitter: danceSpec