In Touch In Ruin

Indistinguishable human and natural marine environments
An exploration of human objects and their nature transformed through context and time. This collection of works by Hannah Buckingham, Harry Payne, and myself took the impitus of the Mary Rose – a historical shipwreck – and ventured into its heritage to inform our current practises, and more importantly how we upskill in immersive technology.
Each of us came into this programme with zero experience in working with XR and immersive tech – this opportunity to learn how to work with it as part of a growing practise is called “Resonate”. Part of Play Office, this programme selected three artists to work with one another to create new work with technology in response to heritage. 
I took this opportunity to delve into the unknown entirely – almost rejecting photography, I took to software such as Touchdesigner, Notch, and Blender to make with. I sought to represent the sensory experiences of marine life species found in the Solent…
Before looking at sensory experience, I needed to consider the Mary Rose. Fed by the theory of Conscious Realism, I interigated the notion that raising the Mary Rose may have been an unethical pursuit.
A human object sunk and forgotten for over 400 years, only perceptable to marine life during that time, suggests to me that for the majority of its life the Mary Rose has been a non-human object and in fact indistinguashable to the natural environment for the multiple generations of marine life that called it home.
We are the last beings that are entitled to it. 
Considering this further, I saw how the Mary Rose provided for its environment in three major ways:
  • Food – invertabrates such as Gribble (Limnoria) and Shipworm (Teredo navalis) ate the exposed wood. They, in turn, are eaten and energy is passed from the Mary Rose and up the food chain.
  • Habitat – The forms of the wreck created a suitable habitat for neumerous species including cuttlefish and crabs. Most notably is the fossilised remains of native oyster (Ostrea edulis) found on artifacts. Indicating that the wreck was a key shelter for this threatened species. 
  • Sanctuary – According to the “Protection of Wrecks Act (1973)” it is illegal to interfere with the seabed within a 300m radius of this wreck. This suggests that, perhaps inadvertently, that the wreck site acts as a protected area for marine life.  
Through these three processes, the Mary Rose had evidently turned from a wreck to a reef. 

    Seeing how fish hear

    Lateral Lines are organs that most fish possess; a line of openings running from their snout to their tail fin. This gives them the unique ability to acutely detect water displacement and noise in a way human beings cannot.

    To simulate this for us to understand it better I have taken 3D animated models of a range of species native to the Solent, created point clouds from them and paired them with a particle operator all within touchdesigner.
    The particles emanate from the black point clouds of the model, displaced as it moves, effectively showing us where each species isn’t.

    This isolation of the lateral line sense acts as an echo of time, a visualisation of the path this species has taken as it has disrupted the water around it, each unique to the biology of its host.

    Depicted: Spiny Dogfish, Bass, Conger Eel, Undulate Ray, Bream, Edible Crab.

    This is a preview of the individual models that were exhibited for In Touch In Ruin.

    Resonate (ii): Embracing Heritage & Technology

    To celebrate the Resonate programme that brought us together, Hannah Buckingham, Harry Payne and myself created a book that collages our experience of creating, our interpretations of the work, and the journeys we took to get to the finished exhibition; In Touch In Ruin.

    Get in touch for a physical copy (subject to availability).