“Any Resemblance to Any Other World Known or Unknown is Purely Coincidental” presented by Phillips
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Large Displays in Urban Spaces and Elsewhere - Gigantic: Mediation Beyond Surface
Presentation Title:
- Any Resemblance to Any Other World Known or Unknown is Purely Coincidental
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
This panel paper explores the recent liberation of the Fulldome from its planetarium shaped shackles through the work of a transdisciplinary team of artists, VJ’s, coders, performers, producers and curators. This process of liberation has enabled the exploration of a Fulldome language and a range of experiences and enabling technologies that are being deployed in cultural situations and institutions. This process has also created a disciplinary backwash where initiatives such as Fulldome UK, are infiltrating Science Centres with cultural content.
The Fulldome, as a media archaeology, represents an anomaly in the history of media technologies and associated art forms. Its early absorption into wealthy STEM domains isolated it from the evolutionary pathways of other art forms, creating something more akin to a mutated hybrid of scientific instrument, educational tool and funfair ride. These chameleon qualities were constrained by a co-dependency of a disciplinary hegemony (public understanding of science), astronomically expensive digital technologies and an investment in physical infrastructure and estate (Science Centres) (Phillips, 2012). It could be argued that this enforced incarceration was in the best interest of the Fulldome, an effort to keep the form protected in a state of hibernation until circumstances allowed it to emerge, imago like, from its disciplinary chrysalis. If so, then as with all over protective parenting, letting go can be difficult. The transformation of the Fulldome from compliant child to rebellious adolescent has far reaching transdisciplinary implications – this panel paper draws on insights gained through collaborations, such as Fulldome UK (fulldome.org.uk), the EMDL Project (emdl.eu) and research exploring the application Fulldome technologies to museums and galleries (n particular Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Tate Modern).
