Document:Q11863

Tunnel Vision is a multimedia installation that consists of a video projection, surround sound and lighting effects. The imagery was created using 3D modeling and animation. The work is a visual and auditory experience of spatiality. It was produced specifically for the Centre and seeks to explore the body's experience and the sensory effects of industrial architecture.
The building which houses the art centre is rudimentary and functional in its structure. As in most old factories, the inside spaces are relatively anonymous and impersonal. There is very little in the room to trigger any associations. The emptiness in it thus becomes strangely present and takes on another dimension, suggesting an infinite identical space and a vertiginous depth. This absence is like a desert of the interior.
Usually an installation inhabits the space, but here the work disappears, or rather, it is the space itself that manifests through the work. Before entering the room, the visitor sees a dimly lit video still and hears an almost inaudible rumble. The projection creates the illusion that the room is much deeper and curved, like a tunnel or long corridor, than it actually is. When the viewer enters the room, the visual and sound environment changes. The still image starts moving, giving the impression that one is travelling along a winding passage. The rumble becomes louder and stronger. The projection gradually becomes brighter as the sound increases in volume. When both sound and light reach a saturation point, a set of lights illuminates the room. The rumble travels past the visitor and fades away. The light also disappears, and silence takes over.
As the title suggests, the work explores ideas associated with the process of immersive perceptual awareness. It sets up an environment that confronts us with visual and auditory stimuli which are at times soothing and at other times disturbing. Because the installation plays with basic physical reflexes and primary sensations, the visitor is brought to a more primitive level of awareness. Experiencing the effects of strong light on our eyes or low rumbling noises on our ears, we are taken to the limits of human sensory capacities
The soundscape is a response to the qualitative dimensions of the space and echoes the minimalist architecture of the building. Listeners are invited to immerse themselves in an experience of primal acoustic events. Since being surrounded by sound engages our sensory perceptions, the entire body becomes involved in a kinesthetic experience.