3 April 2009

Tunnels and tenements to tell the tale of spiritual objects

Photo opportunity: 5-7pm, Friday, April 3rd, Lower Foyer Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design during Preview Evening.

High-tech models of Dundee tenements and tunnels under the Law are among the projects showcased at a new exhibition taking place at the University of Dundee next week.

‘Spiritual Objects’ displays the work of Interactive Media Design students who were challenged to re-imagine the magical, mythological and religious when creating their models.

The brief threw up a diverse and engaging range of interactive exhibits that use storytelling to communicate the complex beliefs at the heart of cultures across the world and throughout history.

In one, Neil Dawson used a miniature tenement based on those that have housed Dundonians for centuries to re-tell the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts for a modern audience. Viewers are invited to peer through the shuttered windows which reveal the tale in sequence.

Paul Creegan was another student to take his inspiration from Dundee. His model embellishes fact and draws upon rumour to create his very own urban myth of secret tunnels that run below the Dundee Law.

Paul’s interactive model of the Law plays videos that, when prompted by the user, tell stories from Dundee’s past. After the final video plays, the model will lift up to reveal Paul’s imagined history of the secret beneath the iconic, extinct volcano.

The project is sponsored and supported by Orange Labs UK and the exhibition team at Newangle Creative Digital Agency. Spiritual Objects takes place at the Lower Foyer Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design on 6-10 April and can be viewed between 9.30am and 5pm each day.

To mark the opening of this exhibition, renowned interactive designer Stephen Barrass will deliver an informal talk about his work. He is currently a visiting researcher at IRCAM, Paris as well as Associate Professor at the University of Canberra.

His research interests include mixed reality, interaction design, and new interfaces for musical expression, and his exhibitions have taken place across the world.

He will be visiting Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art to view the research being carried out, and work produced, there and his talk takes place at the Lower Foyer Gallery at 11am on Monday, April 6th.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk