Using Lincoln Cathedral and the Usher Gallery as the 'canvas', Fourth Phase was commissioned by photographer Phil Crow to manage the entire project, from researching suitable projection sites to the sourcing of the projection slides. Eight images from the exhibition were turned into slides by DHA Lighting, four colour and four mono, and brought to life using two Pani BP6 projectors. Lincoln Cathedral was the first venue and the nearby castle walls proved an ideal site for the BP6s, but with one minor drawback - a crane was necessary to get the projectors in place. Unperturbed, the Fourth Phase team of James Hall, Dominic Ayres and Steve Russell organized both this and the removal of the projectors to the second site.
"It was a very labour-intensive project," James Hall told us, "and we were working against the clock from 9am until the start of the event at 9pm on the Friday." Saturday was to prove an even longer day, with the Fourth Phase crew having to move the equipment to the next location on the other side of the city. Here Fourth Phase had already identified a suitable site near the Usher Gallery, but it was steeply sloped and required levelling with scaffold before the BP6s could be mounted on it. As James said: "It was a very tight schedule but we all rose (at 4am!) to the challenge!"
Crow had been recommended to use Fourth Phase by a local theatre lighting director: "The projections were to play such a central role in the launch of the exhibition that I did have a few anxious moments, but as soon as I spoke to the Fourth Phase team I was completely reassured that every thing would look great." The exhibition, which ran until 5 January 2003, was sponsored by Alstom Power, Kodak and local company Apollo Imaging and followed two themes: portraits of Alstom Power employees and the work of local charity Nomad, which works to support homeless people.
(Ruth Rossington)
