5 screen sync install - Bertille Bak @ Vox Gallery Montreal
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Hi all
I just thought I'd share something I have been working on as a tech support this last couple of weeks.
Frnch artist Bertille Bak has a show on at Vox Gallery, Montreal, featuring many video works, some with multiple screens. In fact there is also another multi-screen show next door by an artist Alexandre Larose.
Anyway, I helped setup a sync system for Betille's 5 screen piece, Mineur mineur (2022), using Isadora and 3 mac minis. I think the gallery had either used all their Brightsign players, or simply didnt have the time to wrestle with firmware etc (I still havent got to grips with Brightsign myself). So it was a good chance for me to learn and apply some sync techniques using OSC signals over the gallery network!
It seems to be running ok. The setup uses 3 mac minis connected to the network via ethernet, and 5 screens in portrait, and 5 HD videos (h264). Mac minis A & B play two videos each, and mac mini C plays just 1. There is a 'SETUP' scene with a 'preload scene' actor in it, followed by a 'MOVIE' scene. All Isadora patches end-jump to the preload scene once the movie has finished. (the films have titles / black at the end, so a seemless loop is not required). MAC A then waits 10 seconds, and then sends an OSC signal to trigger a jump back to the MOVIE scene for MAC B & C, and also jumps itself.
One small issue I had was that one mac was occasionally not recieving the osc signal to start - it turned out that I'd copied the wifi IP address for that one, rather that the ethernet IP address, so I guess it had been occasionally falling of the wifi network. Once I updated the address list with the ethernet address, it was fine.I've also incorporated a few Data Array actors so that IP addresses can be read / edited from text files, and the delay / restart time is also here. I'm also using Data Array to write a log that records information to a text file every minute about the movie position, scene, and time. I can then access these via a remote desktop software (Splashtop) and make a quick comparison. Considering these are different machines (mac C is lower spec), they are holding up pretty well (see below).
anyway, if you get a chance to see the show, I highly recommend it - the work is darkly humourous - a playful approach to serious subjects (labour and working conditions), and extremely well presented - almost theatrically. The other work by Alexandre Larose is super too - though not
if you have vertigo!MACHINE SCENE MOVIE POSITION DATE(DMYYY)-TIME(HMS)
MAC B movies 90.218697 5-9-2024-11-2-0
MAC C movies 90.2062 5-9-2024-11-2-0
MAC A movies 90.215096 5-9-2024-11-2-0
MAC B movies 96.709099 5-9-2024-11-3-0
MAC C movies 96.706001 5-9-2024-11-3-0
MAC A movies 96.7089 5-9-2024-11-3-0
MAC B movies 2.1086 5-9-2024-11-4-0
MAC C movies 2.1053 5-9-2024-11-4-0
MAC A movies 2.1092 5-9-2024-11-4-0
MAC B movies 8.6026 5-9-2024-11-5-0
MAC C movies 8.598701 5-9-2024-11-5-0
MAC A movies 8.6047 5-9-2024-11-5-0
MAC B movies 15.1008 5-9-2024-11-6-0
MAC C movies 15.0922 5-9-2024-11-6-0
MAC A movies 15.0968 5-9-2024-11-6-0
MAC B movies 21.592499 5-9-2024-11-7-0
MAC C movies 21.5868 5-9-2024-11-7-0
MAC A movies 21.593601 5-9-2024-11-7-0
MAC B movies 28.0889 5-9-2024-11-8-0
MAC C movies 28.077099 5-9-2024-11-8-0
MAC A movies 28.089401 5-9-2024-11-8-0
Dans Mineur mineur (2022), il est question du travail des enfants. Cette vidéo a été entièrement fabriquée à distance pendant le confinement : à Madagascar, en Inde, en Bolivie, en Indonésie et en Thaïlande, chaque famille a reçu de la part de l’artiste un kit pour enregistrer des images. Des enfants trimant dans des mines d’étain, d’or, d’argent, de saphirs et de charbon chorégraphient une scène semblable à une kermesse d’école dont ils sont privés. Leurs silhouettes ont par la suite été incrustées dans d’étroits boyaux miniers vus en coupe comme des fourmilières observées par un entomologiste. Bertille Bak construit avec ses sujets des actions collectives pour dire leur réalité autrement. Elle est de ceux et celles pour qui faire ensemble s’inscrit dans une vision du bonheur. Il en résulte des images spontanées, montées dans la rapidité du geste.
