The Big Interview: Marshmallow Laser Feast
If you go down to the woods today… you’ll find the latest in virtual reality experiences with digital art pioneers Marshmallow Laser Feast…
When you’re about to interview one of your favourite artists, it’s a great excuse to remind yourself of their best work. Scrolling through Marshmallow Laser Feast’s Vimeo channel is a recommended, almost spiritual experience: the studio – founded by a modern day holy trinity of Memo Akten, Robin McNicholas, and Barney Steel — create fantastical, incredible worlds through ridiculously cutting-edge installations, performances, film and design, using the latest tools at their disposal — which have so far included lasers, 3D animation, and virtual reality systems.
And they have been making these unreal experiences for commercial and creative clients all over the world. Delivering early projection mapping and CGI for Vodafone and Saatchi & Saatchi four years ago, Marshmallow Laser Feast have gone on to make Tron-esque car adverts for McClaren, and shoot laser beams around Bono’s head (something we all wished we’d done, admit it) at the Super Bowl.
Their art projects are arguably even better. The most well-known have included the musical, vibrating Laser Forest created for STRP Biennale (Einhoven), which we saw at the Barbican (London); and The Measures Taken, a collaboration with the Alexander Whitley dance company that focused on our increasingly uncomfortable, powerful relationship with technology. The former substituted trees for giant tuning forks, allowing visitors to ‘shake’ them and therefore make their own orchestra of sound; the latter was a trick to the eye, an artificial entity out of thin light rays that seemed to ‘dance’ with a human. Both dazzled, confused, and ultimately entertained greatly.
And now, Marshmallow Laser Feast turn their attentions to Grizedale Forest (Cumbria) for this weekend’s Abandon Normal Devices (AND); a strange choice for a festival of art and tech, one may think, as the Lake District isn’t exactly known for its connectivity. Their new commission, In the Eyes of the Animal, has come out of Project Daedalus, a long-term, collaborative research project (with MLF, AND and the University of Salford) into drones as production tools.
“There’s something about drones”, enthuses co-founder Barney Steel, chatting on the phone to me this week, “that makes you see a different perspective on the world. That’s probably one of our main interests… you can experience the everyday from a completely unusual perspective.”
NESTA funded, the teams consolidated their energies into a “really focused period of time” were they researched what was possible. Which led to what is now one final outcome: In the Eyes of the Animal utilises drones amongst other tech to create a heightened, virtual reality experience of Grizedale Forest from the perspective of its creatures. Essentially recording a bubble or full-sphere view of the landscape, by flying drones out over and through the trees, wearers of special VR headsets get ‘inside’ that sphere.
It is, says Steel, “kind of like a glass elevator”. If so, Steel is the new Willy Wonka: his enthusiasm is palpable . “You actually get a sense of vertigo… you’re not making content for rectangles; you’re actually making immersive bubbles that transport people out of their bodies.”
One part of the process involved scanning multiple parts of the Cumbrian forest using an architectural laser called Lidar. Creating a 360 degree scan, “like a laser measurer”, the gadget moves up-down-up-down whilst rotating, capturing images around it. MLF then swapped this for a panoramic camera, taking high resolution, 360 degree photographs from the same point. Combining both allowed the team to rebuild the forest in a computer games engine, as Steel describes it, “into a world made out of dots” that “you can fly around”. Ironically, wind is the enemy when using this tech outside; despite being cutting-edge; the equipment recalls working with early cameras, as everything you want to capture has to remain still, or the image blurs.
As with most MLF projects, collaboration was key. The team also created 3D models of insects with the Natural History Museum’s (London) Imaging and Analysis Centre — CT scanning the inner bodies and brains — and photogrammetry of owls, buzzards and frogs with commercial company FTFX.
“If I was a sculptor, I would totally be using this stuff to scan nature and then manipulate it afterwards”, says Steel. “We’re taking control of the eyeballs and ears, and exploring touch as well. Once you have control of the human senses, then you can kind of take people anywhere… a virtual world that feels tangible and real.”
In the Eyes of the Animal, then, is ‘remoulding’ these human senses into another, non-human body. How do these creatures see the world? What was that process like?
“Life as a human feels so concrete. Like there’s nothing beyond the limits of our senses… yet we know that there’s a whole load of stuff we don’t see. If you look into the world of insects, dragonflies have got better eyesight; they see at 300 frames per second compared to our 24 frames per second.
“Midges can sense the C02 from 50 metres away, they can sense the heat of your body… when you start to think about that in terms of a simulation, it starts to get really interesting.”
Counting “daydreaming” as one of his specialist areas of expertise at Marshmallow Laser Feast, Steel is also a hands-on animator. One of Steel’s strongest childhood memories is of drawing pine cones in the study under his art teacher-dad’s tutelage, giving him a confidence in observation. This led to a career in photography, illustration, and animation; gathering a real understanding of what’s possible with the tools (and tech) available.
“Even with our installations, we’ve always been into making an immersive experience; now, virtual reality provides such a powerful platform to explore abstract areas of sound, etc., the whole company’s shifted into using those tools. It really is the dawn of a whole new platform. It works so well.”
Marshmallow Laser Feast want to eventually use this technology they have trialed at AND Festival to save the rainforests of Indonesia, which are currently being chopped down to make way for palm oil production. MLF’s plans are to scan one colossal tree down to the electron microscope detail as one seamless, 360 degree journey, charting all of the connected, rich ecosystem that lives and depends on it to survive; building an interactive ‘sculpture’ that responds to the user’s touch. Wouldn’t it be awful if in 100 years this artwork outlived the rainforest it was documenting?
“The ecosystem is completely unique, and it’s taken such a long time to get to the point that they are now. When you chop them down, it’s not as if they can just grow back – its game over.”
It was this exploration of complex themes that produced The Measures Taken: the aforementioned collaboration with dancer and choreographer Alexander Whitley. When we interviewed Whitley back in 2013, he said of the collaboration:
“It appeals to broader questions and themes in the contemporary world; our communication is increasingly being mediated through technology, and it is affecting not only the way we interact with one another but also the way we move and think; just think about how our gestures are incorporated into devices these days. It seems like a really fertile area.”
How did Steel see the process?
“It’s this idea of extending performance beyond the limits of your body; so using tech to translate those movements into something completely detached from your body. For instance, when you slap water, you see the ripples pouring off…
“There was one discussion that didn’t translate into the final performance, about how we swipe with our thumbs, unlocking our phones… people are completely hypnotised… [The Measures Taken] is a liberation from the chair, into a full body experience of that computer world; you regain your physicality, but beyond that, if you go beyond the limits of your body, you can be anything you want: Lawnmover man (!), or something we cant imagine yet… Ultimately, I see a world where we are more physical.”
And physicality is what connects all of Marshmallow Laser Feast’s best work. As we strap on our VR headsets and comfiest walking shoes this weekend in Grizedale Forest, we’ll be hoping for that physical, out-of-body experience promised. We can’t wait.
Laura Robertson, editor
Abandon Normal Devices Festival opens today until Sunday 18-20 September 2015 — see their full programme of free and ticketed events here
See MLF speak about their creative and commercial processes in person at the next Kin Social — Constellations, Liverpool, 6 October 2015, 530-8pm. Free, booking essential!
See sneaky peeks of MLF’s #intheeyesoftheanimal on Instagram
More on marshmallowlaserfeast.com
