Cork, Ireland, 01 September 2021 - Aerial photography and 3D height models from Bluesky are informing a new art installation in Ireland. Part of the Galway International Arts Festival, the Mirror Pavilion, Leaf Work (Derrigimlagh) 2020 by John Gerrard opened at Derrigimlagh Bog, Connemara on the 28 August 2021. One of the largest outdoor art installations ever seen in Ireland, the structure is a response to escalating climate crisis, pushing the boundaries of digital art using simulation. The Bluesky aerial photography and Digital Terrain and Surface Model (DTM / DSM) data were used to help create a virtual landscape.
Image Credit: Mirror Pavilion, Leaf Work, (Derrigimlagh) 2020 by John Gerrard, photo by Ros Kavanagh
“It’s really exciting to be part of such a prestigious event and to have the opportunity to contribute to such a visually stunning and thought-provoking project,” commented Rachel Tidmarsh, Managing Director of Bluesky International. “We know that aerial photography has its own artistic value as well as geographic accuracy so to see it being used to create this innovative virtual world is quite breath taking.”
The second part of artist John Gerrard’s Mirror Pavilion, Leaf Work (Derrigimlagh) 2020 reflects and responds to landscape at the spectacular 4,000-year-old Derrigimlagh Bog which was the site of the first transatlantic radio signal from the Marconi station in 1907 and the landing place for Alcock and Brown’s first transatlantic plane crossing in 1919.
Mirror Pavilion is a striking 7x7x7 metre structure with 3 sides and the roof clad in a highly reflective mirror. The fourth wall is a high-resolution LED screen. By using real world aerial photography and height information created and donated by Bluesky the artwork appears and yet at the same time disappears into the landscape while a digitally created character perform choreographed movements on the LED wall.
The character featured in Leaf Work performs a lament for the effects of accelerating human technologies upon non-human worlds. She walks a slow simple circle within a choreography based on the position of the sun and her sorrow is antitheses of the dynamism and confidence of the partner installation Corn Work which was on show at the Claddagh Quay in Galway in September 2020.
The Mirror Pavillion Corn Work and Leaf Work were commissioned by Galway International Arts Festival for Galway 2020, European Capital of Culture and were postponed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from July 2020. Bluesky donated the aerial data in order for John Gerrard, the producer of the artwork Werner Poetzelberger and the Festival team to successfully create the digital landscape.
CONTACTS:
Robert Loughran, Bluesky Ireland, +353 (0)21 2409026, Email Contact
Laura Eddy – Marketing Co-ordinator, Bluesky, +44 (0) 1530 518518, Email Contact
Robert Peel – Editorial Contact, Spatially Aware, +44 (0) 1666 823306, Email Contact
https://www.bluesky-world.com/
About Bluesky
Bluesky International is the leading aerial survey and geographic data company in the UK producing and maintaining seamless digital aerial photography and height data on a national scale in both Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Bluesky also undertakes bespoke surveys, including LiDAR, for a range of public and private sector clients.
Bluesky International operates a range of aircraft and sensors including three Ultracam Eagle Mark 3s, two CityMappers which allow the simultaneous collection of vertical and oblique imagery as well as LiDAR data, and a Galaxy LiDAR which is mounted with a thermal sensor and survey grade camera. These systems put Bluesky International in the enviable position of being able to provide customers with unique and cost-effective geospatial solutions.
As well as being an established and respected aerial survey company Bluesky International is also highly innovative and continually strives to develop new products and services by embracing new technology and methods. This has resulted in the development of some unique products such as the National Tree Map (NTM).
These datasets underpin long term contracts with local and central governments and many major blue-chip companies from a range of market sectors including financial services, utilities, telecoms, web portals, construction and environment. Bluesky International has offices in the UK, US, Republic of Ireland and a dedicated production centre in India. https://www.bluesky-world.com/
The multidisciplinary Galway International Arts Festival takes place each July in Galway, Ireland and covers a range of art forms.
The festival programme includes Irish and international work of the highest quality, featuring theatre, music, visual arts, opera, street spectacle, dance, discussion and comedy. In addition to the celebrated annual festival, GIAF presents a major discussion platform on creativity and innovation, First Thought Talks.
In 2019, over 200 events took place in 30 venues over the course of 14 days with an attendance in excess of 260,000. The Guardian named the festival as one of the Top 5 Summer Festivals in Europe. https://www.giaf.ie/
One of Ireland’s most unique and internationally celebrated artists, John Gerrard is best known for his large-scale and site-specific works, his sculptures, which usually take the form of digital simulations, have been installed in both high-profile urban spaces such as Lincoln Center Plaza (New York) for Public Art Fund and Somerset House (London) for Channel 4, and in geographically isolated locations such as Coachella Valley Desert (California) for Desert X.
His work has featured at the Venice Biennale and is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (New York). Tate (London) recently presented his work. johngerrard.net
