Digitrope highlights all that is great about the city

The Roman Baths were lit up on Friday and Saturday night by the latest projection artwork of Illuminate Bath Creative Director and Bath Spa Senior Lecturer Anthony Head.

Anthony Head’s Digitrope is a new projection-based artwork which was created especially for the Bath Digital Festival. It was supported by Bath Spa University, Legacy Trust UK and Enlightened Lightened who took charge of the technical aspects of the event. Legacy Trust UK is creating a lasting impact from London 2012 by funding ideas and local talent to inspire creativity across the UK.

The Digitrope artwork was influenced by the nineteenth Century animation device, the Zoetrope - a cylinder-shaped toy with a sequence of pictures on its inner surface which, when viewed through the vertical slits spaced regularly around it while the toy is rotated, produces an illusion of movement.

TheDigitrope is a scalable, playful installation that used a live video camera to capture willing participants who interacted with the piece. The participants’ movements were then digitised and played back instantly as a series of eight or more giant frames each measuring three metres high.

The work explored the notions of creative control, participation, performance and the playfulness that occurs when you are presented with yourself live on video which is curiously different to just seeing yourself in a mirror.

Anthony said: “On two cold rainy nights, we brought smiles and laughter to the participating public, who appeared impressed with the engaging power of an interactive artwork. It’s something you have to experience!

“My thanks go to the Bath Spa University students who volunteered to encourage people to take part, and the hyper efficient tech crew from Enlightened Lighting. It’s been a pleasure to create a piece for the Bath Digital Festival, a symbol of the growing dominance Bath is showing in the software and technology sector. 

“I hope to bring back another Illuminate Bath Festival in the near future.”

David Kelly, Director of the Bath Digital Festival, said: “It has been a pleasure to partner with the team behind Illuminate Bath in what we hope is the first of many demonstrations of the power of combining technology with community involvement. The Digitrope was a great addition to this year's Digital Festival and we're looking forward to working with Anthony again in the future.”

This is the second Bath Digital Festival which offers ten days of exciting events run at venues across the city, and offers something for everyone in the community. Bath has a fast-growing digital sector, and the Festival has been developed to allow members of the public to explore the city’s thriving digital scene and to get involved in a variety of interesting projects. The festival runs from 14 to 24 March and details of the exciting events still on-going are available on the website www.2013.bathdigitalfestival.com

Bath Spa University is a proud partner of the Festival and many staff and students are playing a pivotal role in helping make it a success. The University is also sponsoring the ‘Biggest success story of 2012’ award at the Festival’s SPARKies awards, later this week.

Image credit: Ria MacRae