Tides of Time

This Hypnotic Audiovisual Artwork Sweeps You Away in Time

“We see ourselves as visual artists, and art can transcend all manner of concepts.”
-Will Jarvis

London-based creative studio Panoply have been fiddling with the fabric of time. Teaming up with Copenhagen based sound studio Human Robot Soul a recent studio project, entitled Tide, the team have created a hypnotic, audiovisual representation of the inescapable fourth dimension.

Concept, Design & Direction: Panoply
Audio: Human Robot Soul

Panoply have created an artwork in which colours continuously evolve and a breath-taking, beautiful patterns emerge out of, and fold into, one another. Human Robot Soul’s music deepens the mesmeric quality, focusing you on the shear detail of the visuals.

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THE PLUS: Why were you interested in exploring the idea of time with Tide?
Will Jarvis:
Time is something that affects us all. It’s inescapable and relentless. We were playing with ways of visualising processes that are defined by the passing of time; natural rhythms such as birth and decay, day and night and the constant cycle of the tides. 

TP: Other than making it to explore this theme, what were the other reasons for the creation? For example, was it created for someone? Was it an experiment?
WJ:
There were elements of experiment throughout the process but our intended creative outcomes were always clear.

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TP: What was the process behind making it? Was it a team effort?
WJ:
As a studio piece Tide is very much a collaboration between our team of creatives, artists and designers. We allowed the concept and the thinking behind it to lead us and dictate the processes employed in its creation. 

TP: It’s incredibly detailed yet abstract – did you have anything in mind while you were creating it?
WJ:
As we developed the system that governs Tide it quickly became clear that there was a real hypnotic quality to the visuals and once you start to observe the varying levels of detail it becomes a challenge to visually retain any one moment. In a sense our attempts to appreciate the fleeting aesthetic moments of Tide are somewhat futile, we are simply swept along with it, much like we are by the passage of time. 

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TP: How did you approach colour? How far along the process did deciding on colours come?
WJ:
Colour is always an important piece of the puzzle, with Tide we wanted the shifting hues to reflect the transient nature of the piece.

TP: What was it like working with Human Robot Soul? Did you create the visuals to the music or was the music created to the visuals?
WJ:
As Tide is such an experimental piece we wanted Human Robot Soul to be free to explore various sonic landscapes. Being a collaborative process we gave him the visuals with very little steer and awaited his interpretation. We love the results.

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TP: A great deal of art has the goal of grounding us in the here and now, in the present moment. Do you think motion graphics has an advantage when it comes to this?
WJ:
We don’t like the term motion graphics, it’s become synonymous with trend based visuals, copy-cat renders and Instagram likes. As a studio one of Panoply’s main tenets is to lead and not follow. We avoid the fads preferring to create engaging, original work with beauty and purpose. 

We see ourselves as visual artists, and art can transcend all manner of concepts. 


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