Blink is an outdoor installation that toured to five town centres during November 2019. The project seeks to challenge people to see peace differently by inviting them to enter and explore installations created by local artists. The project was run by Emergency Exit Arts with director and activist, Chloe Osborne at the helm who guided five teams of young producers through commissioning the installations.
Nina was responsible for co-designing the overal structre with Rūta Irbīte and the projections that transformed the tent-like structures into giant interactive eyes.
She also designed a peace monument as a final installation for the event. This perspex disc acted as an infinity well containing some of the key the messages from the installation and providing visitors with a moment to reflect.
Nina’s team consisted of Adam Lansberry (engineer, animator), Andy Skirrow (electrical engineer), Dan Bywater (engineer), Laura Salmi (production co-ordinator).
The outside of the eyes were equipped with motion sensors that detected the movement of passers-by to trigger the content mapped to the outside of the eyes to blink and look at them, thereby inviting them to get involved and ultimately placing the onus on each and every one of us to play and active part in bringing peace to our communities.
The team faced challenges along the way such as finding the right projectors to fit the budget whilst delivering the right coverage and designing systems for all of the artists installations to integrate with the overal touring system. Time and weather were factors to be considered too since the ‘eyes’ were designed to appear overnight within a town centre without warning so as to awaken curiosity.
The feeback from visitors and commissioners alike was extremely positive and we hope to be able to present the event again in the future.
