Under Scan in Nottingham

Under Scan is a free, public art installation featuring 1,000 interactive video portraits of people from the East Midlands. The portraits, taken by a team of local filmmakers and including 200 people from Nottingham, are projected on the ground in an area covering around 1,200 square metres. People can make the portraits "come alive" by covering them with their shadows, which are cast by a powerful projector.

 

Created specially for the region by Mexican-Canadian contemporary artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Under Scan brings a new interactive art experience to the city, helping to put the region on the map for hosting internationally significant visual arts work. The installation of Under Scan has been programmed at the start of an exciting time for the visual arts in Nottingham, with British Art Show 6 arriving in the city in April. Running alongside the British Art Show will be Sideshow, a festival highlighting the best work being created by emerging independent local artists.

 

Under Scan has been commissioned by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) in association with other regional partners including Arts Council England, East Midlands and regional authorities including Nottingham City Council.

 

Under Scan utilises highly sophisticated, integrated technologies. The world’s brightest projector, with 110,000 lumens of intensity, will be installed to flood an area covering around 1200 square metres with bright light, creating shadows of people walking through it.  A surveillance camera will detect people as they walk in the area. Video portraits, selected at random from a body of video portraits of local people created last year, will be projected and come to life through interaction with pedestrians’ shadows.

 

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer said: “The unveiling of Under Scan represents the culmination of almost a year’s work including intensive research, technical and artistic development behind this, my latest and most ambitious installation. I hope it will bring a new experience to Nottingham people and visitors to the city, and will provide them with an intriguing shadow-play where members of the public become actors.”

 

As well as shining a spotlight on Nottingham, Under Scan is helping to mark the massive programme of cultural activity in the region, including major new capital developments. A number of recent and future large-scale arts and cultural projects are playing a key role in cultural, town and city centre regeneration. Key projects in Nottingham include the £13m Centre for Contemporary Art Nottingham (CCAN), which includes funding of £2m from emda and £5m from Arts Council England; the £5.7m refurbishment of Broadway Media Centre, which incorporates funding of c£800,000 from emda and £2.2m from Arts Council England; and the £5.8m New Art Exchange, which has benefited from c£2.9m Arts Council funding and £830,000 from emda.

 

Ross Willmott, emda board member with responsibility for Under Scan said, “In recent years, more than £140 million has been invested in developing new facilities within the East Midlands’ cultural quarters, bringing major economic benefits including jobs creation, increased tourism and the wide-ranging impacts of urban regeneration of our major towns and cities.”

 

“Under Scan will highlight the region’s arts and cultural offering and its vibrant cultural quarters. It demonstrates our commitment to encouraging innovative approaches to public space and, as a hi-tech installation, reflects our strengths in science and technology.”

 

Councillor Leon Unczur, Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio holder for Culture, Community Service and Tourism said,  “The installation of this internationally-significant new public art work reflects Nottingham’s status as a city where the arts are celebrated and can thrive. Capital investments in new buildings including CCAN (Centre for Contemporary Art Nottingham) and the New Art Exchange, and hosting the British Art Show, demonstrates we are and will continue to provide outstanding cultural experiences for all sectors of our communities and anyone who visits the city.

 

“Under Scan represents an opportunity to experience a unique and very special video installation on our doorstep. It is fitting that Under Scan is helping celebrate cultural regeneration, which is playing such a major role in enhancing life in Nottingham at present.”