A new audiovisual installation called Parallels is turning space itself into a canvas. Created by Nonotak Studio (a.k.a. Takami Nakamoto and Noemi Schipfer) and commissioned for the ongoing STRP Biennial in Eindhoven, Netherlands, the piece invites viewers to walk around and interrupt the light projections that distort and abstract the surrounding room.Parallels expands on Nonotak Studio's previous pieces, including Daydream, which explore light as a solid material and create immersive, sensory experiences for the viewer. Unlike their Daydream series, this piece moves away from on-screen projections. "[Parallels] is strongly connected to the space in which it takes place; it lives within it. But as soon as the light hits the walls that define the space it reaches its limits and stops reproducing itself," Nonotak Studio explains.
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The piece works by submerging audiences in a haze of blue fog using a digital multiplex (DMX) to control the density of two haze machines, which Nonotak use to create the illusion of three dimensions from 2D visuals. "For instance, a vertical line becomes a wall that we are able to move into space but also," explains Nakamoto, "the fact we are controlling seven projectors allows us to work on 'gradients' of black and white. Just like drawing with lights."The exploration of light and space takes its inspiration from the work of avant-garde cinema and projection artist Anthony McCall, who brings a physicality to his ephemeral light sculptures. It's this materialized quality that interests the duo and informs this piece. "We love the way the installation looks like a screen at the same time but also so spatial, feeling like you are submerged in an morphing architecture," Nakamoto continues. "The name Parallels comes from the fact we are only using lines as matter for our visual on this one—creating varieties of geometries out of lines was an interesting restriction."
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