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Exhibition: 'Aftertrace'

25 October 2006

UCL neuroscientist Dr Mark Lythgoe (UCL Institute of Child Health) and UCL Slade School of Fine Art PhD student, Miss Georgia Chatzivasileiadi, are collaborating on a new art installation entitled 'Aftertrace'.

aftertrace 2

On show at Science Oxford from 23 October-26 November 2006, the installation is part of the exhibition 'Art and the Senses'.

The basis of Miss Chatzivasileiadi's PhD research is an investigation of the projected image. Her new installation 'Aftertrace' is based on the 'rainbow effect' illusion created by movement in front of a video projector.

Miss Chatzivasileiadi explained: "The effect creates the illusion of a two-dimensional image from a one-dimensional light source. I am exploring the way in which motion - in front of the projector's beam of light - triggers the decomposition, or splitting, of the image to its primary components of red, green and blue light. The new decomposed image expands into the third dimension: it is detached from the two-dimensional surface, and spreads into the entire projection space. In other words, it becomes an 'experiential perception' of the projected image."

Visitors will be filmed in real time as they enter the installation through revolving doors - they can then see their image projected onto the screen as the optical illusion unfolds before them, as they also become the theme of the work.

Dr Lythgoe said: "We are surrounded by digital imagery that is designed to take advantage of our perceptual system. Through our senses we build a relationship with the external world and subsequently we gain knowledge about our self. This installation affords the viewer the unusual position of experiencing components of a projected digital image and thus an opportunity to reflect on how we perceive and create our visual world."

To find out more, use the links at the bottom of this article

Image: The 'Aftertrace' installation