Ashton was commissioned to produce the works by Wolverhampton City Council following his work at the first ever Enchanted City 'pilot' event at Horncastle, Lincolnshire earlier in the year. Ashton is developing this event concept together with Brighton based Robin Morley of Magnetic Events, who also produced this show.
The giant 15m tall images were beamed onto two well-known local landmarks - the 1920s style Barclays Bank building in St Peter's Square, and the Wulfrana Street entrance to the University of Wolverhampton around 100 metres away.
The Oldest Place - This was the title of the Barclays Bank projections in St Peter's Square and based on the story of the monastery originally consecrated in 994 on land granted by Lady Wulfrun, which then became St Peter's Church.
Ashton once again collaborated with sound artist Karen Monid who created a dynamic bespoke soundtrack based on Anglo Saxon poetry about the Garden of Eden which was read by a specialist in Old English language that she sourced and recorded.
The images were all inspired by medieval manuscripts together with patterns based on the shape and geometry of the building.
The images were produced using a single Christie Roadster S+20K projector located on top of a specially built tower close to the building, fitted with a 1.2 - 1 short-throw lens.
Content for the three minute loop was played back from a MacBook Pro running Millumin software.
The show at the University entrance - projected onto the imposing 1930s building - was designed to be a complete contrast to the pastoral and reflective tone of St Peter's Square.
Generator was hi-energy all-action animation based on the flow of ideas, knowledge and energy associated with learning.
Set to a pumping dance track, which turned the atmosphere of the space almost into a joyous public rave, the building's frontage was transformed into a fantasy-style generator with frantically turning cogs emitting oozing steam and flying sparks, together with random objects flying across the surface representing some of the disciplines taught there.
"The idea was to make Generator fun and amusing while The Oldest Place was thoughtful and tranquil, both of them at the polar opposite end of the 'spiritual spectrum', and by their juxtaposition, asking people to explore the natural synergies between these two important locations in their city." explains Ashton, adding, "Effectively it highlights these integral elements of the metropolitan area and presents them in a completely different light."
An almost identical projection set up was utilised for Generator, except the Christie Roadster was fitted with a .7 lens. This show also ran in three minute loops.
(Jim Evans)
