The Voyage Prototype
1998-2004
(45 Second playback - 556K)
The Voyage is a multi-media spectacle. The idea of The
Voyage is that of an individual human being's mental/emotional self or
"soul" traveling through the time and space of human culture,
particularly through the visual, plastic, and architectural artifacts
that human beings have created as an expression of the human spirit in
every corner of the globe. Of course, this journey must be conditioned
by the life of that individual, including his loves, and the losses that
life brings to all of us, caught here between the metaphorical millstones
of time. And since no visual survey of humanity would be complete without
a figurative visit from the four horsemen of the apocalypse, The Voyage
includes that most unfortunate of human activities, a war.
The concept for The Voyage was originated by Jan Sawka, who created over
1200 hand-painted images using watercolors and other paints, pen and ink,
and other types of media on standard watercolor paper (10" by 30",
I believe). The artist designed the images to be viewed in sequence. After
being scanned to digital forma, the images will form a “visual track,”
which will be coordinated with a pre-recorded musical “sound track.”
The transitions from image to image, along with some manipulation of the
images themselves, will employ various digital effects, basic among them
the slow dissolve. Through these manipulations, the number of images will
be extended to over 2000. In its final form The Voyage will be projected
on three screens. The distribution and sequencing of the images between
the screens will be an important part of the visual experience. The original
images use very saturated colors, so that the images can be projected
on a monumental scale and still have the maximum impact, As the images
sequence through, transforming as they supercede one another, a kinetic,
temporal aspect arises, an uncanny dynamism blossoms among the stillnesses,
giving the experience of The Voyage a dream-like, visionary feel.
The music of the spectacle was written and performed by the late Czeslaw
Niemen, an internationally known Polish contemporary musician and composer.
Sawka and Niemen collaborated on the stand-alone excerpt of the full Voyage
that received the Lorenzo il Magnifico gold medal at the 2003 Florence
Biennale, with Nieman timing the display of the images to his music.
The technology used to transfer the images of The Voyage to digital form,
the hardware and software used to prepare the spectacle, and the DVD projection
system are all at the very leading edge of technological development.
For example, the projection system is capable of such magnification that
the "tooth" of the watercolor paper is visible. The distance
between the projector and the screen is very short, given the size of
the screen, so that The Voyage can be shown in a wide variety of spaces,
from gigantic stadiums to small theaters.
The full-scale version of The Voyage will premier in China, where it will
be projected upon at least three very large screens (circa 50 x 50 meters)
for audiences numbering in the hundreds of thousands. It will then tour
the countryside in mobile units, which will set up at village fairgrounds,
marketplaces, etc.
The Voyage intentionally combines the ethos of the handmade, of the Renaissance
emphasis on desegno, which emphasized the skill and talent of the individual
artist, with the most modern digital technology and the collaboration
of the most elite of production teams.
The stand-alone excerpt of The Voyage that won the gold medal in Florence,
a display of digital photographs of all of the individual images used
in that excerpt, together with an earlier prototype of The Voyage will
all be on view at the ACA Galleries.
- Dr. Frank Boyer
Director of Communications
The Sawka Team