The Van Dyck Vanishments - explained

The Van Dyck Vanishemnts was a commission by Marine Studios to create an immersive theatre experience that blended gaming, interactive theatre and wrapped around the current 'Self' exhibition at the Turner Contemporary. Created by The Milo Wladek Co, conceived and directed by Simon Ryninks it was designed to introduce Margate's gamers from GEEK Festival to fine art and immersive theatre, and Turner Comtemporay's Art lovers to gaming and interactive theatre.

The project had three angles:

An interactive 'live point and click' theatre experience / pervasive game that began at Turner's exhibition and ended at a location in Margate town centre.

Photo Credit: David Good

An online digital and app game that followed the narrative of the show but was accessible to everyone online.

A board game which encouraged players to engage with the works from Turner Contemporary's Self Exhibition and kept in with the world of the show.

As part of the show the fictional company Endless Horizons Ltd appeared to be offering people the chance to travel into art - with a fantastic in world website and promotional video by Dino Dimopoulos:

The digital game has been designed by Ben Byford, it's in a BETA stage but you can play it here.

The board game was trailed at Turner Contemporary and GEEK festival, we're still tweaking but keep an eye out for it soon.

The interactive immersive show / pervaysive game (see my other blog post for that angle) went as such:

Audience were given an envelope containing a letter from Junior Vice Lab Assistant Smith, an intern at Endless Horizons LTD. She needed your help as she'd forgotten the password for MARKY (the computer that powers the TranspARTration (TM) machine and takes you into the Art works).

The password was formed from an anagram of selected letters from objects found in the paintings that formed the exhibition. The envelope contained three double sided 'Cryptex's' and it was your job to go to the exhibition, find the paintings, find the word, work out password then come to Endless Horizon Ltd to test the machine yourself.

Once inside and past reception you get to meet smith, feed your password into the super computer, fire up the temporal vortex generator and travel through time and art!

There were 3 more puzzles to solve as part of the experience;

A mini challenge in MARKY (the super computer room) where you had to use your art history knowledge to re-assemble a computer unit via colour co-ordinated plugs.

Photo Credit: Richard Lakos

Once the computer was working, it would extract the 'psychic data' of what ever art work was passed through and create a wormhole leading you into the work. But the machine malfunctioned and instead of creating the world, it damaged two of the priceless art works 'borrowed' from Turner Contemporary, it was up to you to help Smith fix it (and not get fired).

The audience were then brought into the worlds and heads of three of the most significant artists of the last 500 years: Anthony Van Dyck, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Patrick Heron.

Each room was created to be an interpretation of the Artist's world. In Van Dyck's case is was literal and with Gaudier-Brzeska and Heron each room was to be an interactive challenge.

Photo Credit:  Richard Lakos

With Gaudier-Brzeska the challenge was how to represent abstraction, his drawing style as a sculptor and multi-angled interpretation of form that has informed his self portrait needed to be represented in the room and in the challenge. The resulting game room was inspired by his sketch book and in particular a mini sculpture 'Fish' - the audience needed to recreate this in mixture of 2 and 3D - via working out a the sequence of suspended lines that would support the hanging sculpture.

 

Photo Credit: Richard Lakos

Photo Credit: David Good

Patrick Heron's room was designed to allow the audience to feel the emotional reactions behind colour and understand why abstract artists chose non literal colours in their works. The room was also to show Heron's love for St Ives and his style of painting from memory.

Photo Credit: Richard Lakos

Photo Credit: Richard Lakos

The room begins white, there is a projection of a photograph of St Ives which disappears after a few seconds. The audience must re-create an abstracted line drawing of the image form memory with the over head projector - and use gels to add colour. As they do the room changes colour to coincide with their choice. The audience are enveloped in colour and feel the difference in mood, which abstract artists and the fauvists and impressionists (movements that influenced Patrick Heron) would have focused on themselves with their own choice of colour.

David Good is a Kent based documentary film maker who followed us and the process and has made this great little documentary about the show.

Conceived and directed by Simon Ryninks / Written by Joseph Wilde / Designed by Emma Tompkins
Produced by Daisy Cooper / Executive Produced by Kate Kneale

CAST

Benedict Eedle ... Sir Anthony van Dyck
Paul Fuller ... Sir Anthony van Dyck
Hanna Harlyn ... Smith
Jennifer Shakesby ... Smith
Thomas Renaud ... Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
Odinn Orn Hilmarsson ... Patrick Heron
Silvana Maimone ... Lauren Lattimer, C.E.O
Alma Costa ... Ambassador
Lucy Farrett ... Announcer

CREATIVES
Puzzle Designers:
Ben Byford
Simon Ryninks
Emma Tompkins
Board Game Concept:
Nicholas Jones
Simon Ryninks
Emma Tompkins
Lighting Designer: Matthew Vile
Sound Design: Odinn Orn Hilmarsson
Digital Game Design: Ben Byford
Video Designer/Director: Dino Dimopoulos
Board Game Designer: Nicholas Jones
Graphic Design: Alfonso Buendia
Scenic Artist: Becky Vincer
Digital Game Illustrator: Vicky Taylor
Sound Assistants:
Elizabeth Hayward
Andre Dack
Jack Dorman

PRODUCTION

Production Manager: Rhys Thomas

Stage Managers:
Rachael Boyle
Flower Ivanova

Deputy Stage Managers:
Ioannis Levadtis
Barbara Pozgajcic
Lewis Colley
Phillip McParland

Assistant Stage Managers:
Hannah Gardiner
Laura Burchell
Jadene Barker
Lauren Mayes