“one of the most successful and advanced digital performances of the late 90s… a seminal experimental production fusing the technological complexity of hard science skills with a truly original artistic vision.”
Steve Dixon, Digital Performance
In this 20thyear collaborating with the University of Nottingham’s Mixed Reality Lab (MRL), we relish the opportunity to look back and celebrate some of the works we’ve made together.
In 1998 we started experimenting with projecting onto water spray. Prof Steve Benford came and saw what we were doing and invited us to collaborate, which is when we began exploring the collaborative virtual environment with the University of Nottingham. Inspired by this, we started some research into the Gulf War and virtual warfare technology and then we developed Desert Rain, the first ever work we made together.
The work toured the world for 5 years, involved 17 tons of equipment and several hundred kilometres of cable. It was a virtual environment where six people at a time explored a night landscape in a warzone, to explore the ethics of virtual warfare.
Desert Rain was nominated for an Interactive Arts BAFTA Award in 2000.
Re-discover the project here.
