The Speed of Light is an installation by United Visual Artists, commissioned by Virgin Media to celebrate 10 years of broadband. I decided to visit this installation because of my growing interest in interactive, installation art. I found their use of lasers appealing and interesting as I thought about using them myself as means to visualise chance encounters between people and some of my intersection ideas about different paths connecting. The exhibition is a spectacle of light, the laser beams create an exciting environment which works in conjunction with sound. As you enter you are prompted to speak into a microphone by a screen asking you different questions, the sound you produce is then looped around the three floors of the exhibition and used to trigger different lights as you hear your own voice echoing around the rooms. This interactive element is very successful and really engages with the visitor, because of this interaction the exhibition is different every time, depending on who visits and what they say, making it a good example of the use of chance elements.
On the third floor the show reaches a crescendo with a laser light show, using four lasers one in each corner of the room. The beams move and dance, crossing paths at varying speeds, suspense and tension is created by the way the visuals work with the sound which is a mixture of voices collected in the first room, live streams from news sites and ambient sounds. The sounds and lights work together to create layers of interest and at times a sense of confusion which I think mimics the confusion that growing communication technology creates. I think the exhibition did very well to visualise the themes of broadband, the internet and communication. In the last room in particular the show worked to conjure ideas about the way people interact across the world and how peoples life interconnect, which is very relevant to my work at the moment. The show has given me inspiration to attempt to tackle an installation myself and well as sparking further ideas for me about the way people communicate and how this links to my ideas about chance.
