Rebirth: a light and sound show. Animation projection mapped onto the windows of Strutt’s North Mill

Abstract

Rebirth is a series of looped abstracted animations, made by Poynton and Shore, with sound by Bosward, that was projected onto the windows of the first floor and basement of Strutt’s North Mill Belper as part of the celebrations to mark the museum’s Summer Opening event. The work references the elemental forces that helped shape the mill including fire, water and iron. Strutt’s North Mill was built in 1804 and is one of the oldest surviving examples of an industrialised, iron framed ‘fire proof’ building. Animation sequences were constructed using a convoluted and slow process that draws on both digital and analogue practices. In constructing a ‘slow animation’ sequence the actual animation or movement is made visible to the animator. Through an engagement with a range of machine processes (both analogue and digital) the work is able to foreground the artificial nature of animation, commenting on both animation’s craft legacy and its constructed nature.