REWILD at Light Night Worcester & We Shine Portsmouth

Limbic Cinema opted for optimism in an interactive installation addressing humanity’s impact on wildlife and the future of our natural environment.

For several recent events in the UK, Limbic Cinema created and presented REWILD, an artwork based around a core concept rooted in the idea of rewilding nature and how human actions can be positive and constructive for the environment. The creative team brought in local poets from each exhibiting city to foster a connection between community arts and nature.

The Limbic Cinema team began with a straightforward visual objective: the audience’s presence would cause plants, animals, and fungi to grow across an outdoor surface in an urban setting. They began research and development in Notch, experimenting with particle growth systems, 3D models, and images.

The team created their plant-growth animations in Cinema 4D. They then used two Kinect Azures with an interactive zone to drive the particles’ emissions, using optical flow to emit only when people move. They also used Cinema 4D for landscapes and Octane to render multipasses to use in Notch, where they relit everything on 2D image planes.

Multidisciplinary Artist Nurbanu Asena illustrated the animals, which the creative team then placed on a material mixed with fractal noise composite nodes to create movement and life within the still images. Once they composited all elements, they sent everything through a final particle system to add complexity and cohesion.

They used a custom media server running standalone exports from Notch and ran these into MadMapper and Ableton to play the audio and add further interactivity. The final project communicated the importance of rewilding without being alarmist, creating an overall more positive and empowering message of a brighter future.

“The combination of large-scale public art and interaction was an experiment for us. Notch enabled the research period to be quick and fruitful, and we found we could use a large number of Notch particle systems all driven by two Kinects, which felt very manageable. From there, making changes was easy and accessible.”

Tom Price, Creative Director & Notch Designer, Limbic Cinema

Additional press coverage:
The News, Southsea Folk, Worcester Observer.

Credits
Client: Light Night Worcester & WeShine Portsmouth
Production Company: Limbic Cinema
Creative Direction: Tom Price, Thom Buttery, & Tom Newell

Notch Designers: Tom Price & Tom Newell
Illustrator/Animator: Nurbanu Asena
Poet: Holly Mullineaux