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Whatever the Weather
Weather Cluster is a unique and hugely ambitious multi-screen permanent video installation launched in November at the Clacton County High School. The installation is part of ‘Coast’, a major visual arts project which started in 2003. Over four years, a series of newly commissioned permanent and temporary artworks will be installed along and around the Essex Coast.
Hanging in the atrium of Clacton High School’s new wing, Weather Cluster is a complex web of screens and data-cables, which resembles a 21st Century chandelier. This cloud of 30 screens emits weather conditions from around the world. Students from the school film weather conditions at every opportunity and these video clips form a computer database, which constantly searches the Internet to ascertain the local climate. As the weather conditions change, the computers broadcast the relevant video loops. Year after year, the database will grow as students continue to contribute their films, enriching the weather library.
Stage Electrics provided the technical expertise for construction and installation of the cluster. Twenty-six TFT monitors were suspended from a custom-designed rig manufactured and tested at Stage Electrics in Bristol.
The Bristol team designed and manufactured bespoke hanging brackets to allow monitors to be mounted at specific angles and to incorporate safety features. An equipment rack was incorporated into the design, mounted on the metal substrate and covered with a ‘top hat’ making it accessible yet aesthetically pleasing. Before any work started on the project, a full scale mock up was constructed and hung in the Bristol Warehouse.
The installation was assembled and installed in the Clacton School by a Stage Electrics team led by project manager Martin Woodage, and whilst onsite the team also stepped in to resolve a ducting problem.
Artist Michael Pinsky, who designed the Weather Cluster quotes: “I had worked on a project in Newcastle where Stage Electrics had provided the lighting. When this installation was commissioned, Stage were the obvious choice with the just the skills and experience we were looking for.”
In picture: Weather Cluster in situ courtesy of firstsite: contemporary art Colchester. Also pictured - Weather Cluster full size mock up at Stage Electrics Bristol.
7th December 2005
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