Digital Art to bring Medieval Masterpiece to Life - 4 January 2007

Issued by: York Tourism Partnership

Date: 4 January 2007

News Release

York Minster's extensive restoration of the Great East Window - the world's largest medieval window - is being brought to life in a ground-breaking digital art installation launched to the public on January 6.

'Recovered light', by renowned international artists Marc Downie, Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser (known as the OpenEnded Group), will allow people to see the window's scenes, never before seen by the public, up close for the first time. It will bring to life the current restoration project of the window, designed to improve the clarity and condition of the 15th century work and to save it from collapse.

The artwork, which will be in place until January 28, will be projected onto a massive screen on the gridwork of scaffolding which covers the entire eastern façade of York Minster for the period of the restoration. Recovered Light will act as a kind of virtual x-ray, peering through the scaffold at the Great Window. This digital artwork will use artificial intelligence to carefully reassemble the intricate scenes of each stained glass panel, as if solving a complex jigsaw puzzle and bringing back to light imagery long lost to view.

The Great East Window is the biggest single expanse of medieval stained glass in the world, is roughly the size of a tennis court and has been described as 'the Sistine chapel of the stained glass world'. It is the earliest piece of English art by a known artist made between 1405 and 1408 by John Thornton.

A masterpiece of narrative design, the window describes the medieval Christian view of the beginning and end of the world. Scaffolding now obscures the Great East Window from view and it is unlikely that visitors to the city will be able to view the window for another ten years.

Recovered Light will work in real-time using a sophisticated artificial-intelligence program. This allows it to interact with the movements of the viewers outside, as well as to continually vary the moving images.

Paul Kaiser, of the OpenEnded Group, based in New York, said: "We're extremely excited about lighting up York Minster as never before. Our artwork will result in a spectacle that never repeats itself during the course of its run and will reward not only visitors to the city encountering it a single time, but also York citizens who will come across it repeatedly in the everyday course of things, catching glimpses of it from afar as well as studying it up close, always finding something new revealed in the ever-shifting artwork."

Recovered Light has been commissioned by the York Tourism Partnership as part of Illuminating York, a ten year strategy by the city with investment from the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, to encourage greater use of the city in the evenings, increase visitor numbers, and enhance the evening environment and security at night.

Rory McCarthy, Tourism Development Officer for the City of York Council, said: "We wanted to secure an artist of international standing to create a light-based public artwork that will catch the imagination of the nation, inspiring visitors and residents alike. We're excited to see the final results."

Gillian Cruddas, Chief Executive of Visit York, said: "January is traditionally a quieter month for tourism in York so we're delighted the city has managed to attract world class artists to put on this major piece of public art. With several fringe events happening next month, as well as a mini arts festival, we're expecting bookings to York to increase throughout January."

Visitors can find out more and book to visit York during January by visiting www.visityork.org Recovered Light will run from 6th January for three weeks to 27th Jan inclusive.

Filming/Interview Opportunity

Date: Friday 5 January 2007

Time: Interviews to take place at 4.30pm, switch on of light installation at 5pm.

Event: Exclusive media preview of launch of 'Recovered Light', a unique digital art installation which will bring to life the extensive restoration of York Minster's Great East Window. (Public launch to be held on Saturday 6 January).

A massive 70ft x 40ft screen will be installed on the scaffolding of the East End of York Minster.

International artists Marc Downie, Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser, along with Louise Hampson, Collections Manager at York Minster, will be available for interview from 4.30pm.

Notes to the Editor:

1. The OpenEnded Group creates digital artworks for stage, screen, gallery and museum, with a present focus on art for public spaces. Much of its work has evoked the movement of bodies, captured digitally and often rendered in a semi abstract style, akin to that of gesture drawing.

The OpenEnded Group, based in New York, comprises three artists: Paul Kaiser, Shelley Eshkar and Marc Downie. Their complete resumes can be found at www.openendedgroup.com/about/bios.htm

Kaiser and Eshkar have collaborated on numerous projects since the mid-1990s, pioneering the use of motion-capture and "hand-drawn" 3D spaces and figures in installation and dance works. Of these, perhaps the best known are BIPED and Ghostcatching. Also acclaimed is their first public artwork, Pedestrian, which projects trompe-l'oeil figures and miniature urban landscapes directly onto city sidewalks.

Joining them in 2001 to create Loops, Downie expanded the creative and technical vision of the group, adding artificial intelligence and real-time graphics to the mix. Downie has pioneered a new approach to generative music and imagery with a series of artworks entitled Musical Creatures

Kaiser has received numerous awards and fellowships for his art and was the first digital artist to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2006 he was awarded a Fellowship in Media Arts from the Rockefeller Foundation to support ongoing projects.

2. The York Tourism Partnership is the private-public partnership responsible for promoting and developing York as a visitor destination. The partners are Visit York, City of York Council, Yorkshire Forward, Yorkshire Tourist Board and the York Hospitality Association.

3. Recovered Light is the highlight of the Illuminating York programme for 2007. As part of this initiative several of the city's historic buildings have been permanently lit including: Lendal Bridge, Museum Gardens Gatelodge, Art gallery, Abbey Walls, Kings manor, Bootham Bar, De Grey Rooms, All Saints Pavement Church, Merchant Adventurers Hall, Clifford's Tower, Fairfax House,St Mary's Church,, Castlegate House, Micklegate Bar, North Street Gardens (and All Saints North Street Spire), Guildhall.

4. York Minster Development campaign is aiming to raise £30 million over the next ten years to fund the restoration of the East Front of the Minster and aid the cathedral's music and educational life. The East Front is a masterpiece of stained glass completed in the early 15th century and it is hoped that 'Recovered Light' will also draw attention to this campaign.

5. York Minster is the largest Gothic cathedral north of the Alps.6. The Illuminating York project was established in 2004 by the York Tourism Partnership with Yorkshire Forward funding. The aim of the project is to use light and creativity to showcase the city's heritage and culture after dark and attract more overnight and higher spending visitors.

Over two and a half years the project has succeeded in commissioning and delivering 12 artistically and technically ambitious light-based public-art projects in York. All of the artworks are commissioned by an expert group with deep expertise in arts, heritage and technology.

York Minster is the largest Gothic cathedral north of the Alps.

For further information contact:

Charlotte Hancock or Nina Hands at Brahm on 0113 220 0646 or 0113 220 0557.