triptych, UVA

A stunning installation by UVA commissioned by onedotzero

UVA’s Triptych was designed for onedotzero’s activities during the Nuit Blanche art event in Paris in 2007, and has since travelled to Holland for TodaysArts Festival and is still presented in numerous cities across the globe even today. It is an audiovisual installation made up of three equally sized LED blocks equipped with motion detector cameras. Emitting light and sound especially composed by Mathias Kispert, it relies on the audience around it to interact and engage with it.

When people approach, the soothing colours and calming sounds turn louder and harsher, suggesting Triptych has a temperamental and powerful presence within. It becomes a huge playable musical instrument as well as a massive urban intervention at once juxtaposing new technology against usually architecture from the past, whilst also highlighting the city landscape and space.

Triptych was a development from a previous onedotzero commissioned project called Monolith that was created for the onedotzero curated Friday Late Event, Transvision at the V&A Museum in London in 2006.

Commissioned by onedotzero

Artist Profile

United Visual Artists 
Established in 2003, United Visual Artists are an art and design practice based in London. UVA produce work at the intersection of sculpture, architecture, live performance, moving image and digital installation.

UVA’s team members come from many disciplines including fine art, architecture, communication design, moving image, computer science and engineering. The cross-pollination of diverse skills inspires new fields of exploration, which is core to their ethos. Pushing the boundaries of research, software and engineering with every project, UVA’s work aims above all to be meaningful and engaging.

UVA’s work has been exhibited at institutions including the V&A, the Royal Academy of Art, the South Bank Centre, the Wellcome Collection, Opera North Leeds, Durham Cathedral and The British Library. Their artworks have also toured internationally to cities including Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Yamaguchi, Taipei, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Barcelona. UVA also have large scale permanent art works in Toronto and Istanbul.

UVA’s designs for live performance have led to commissions at venues such as the Tate Modern turbine hall, Madison Square Garden in New York and Trafalgar Square London. UVA have also collaborated with musicians including Massive Attack, Jay Z, U2, Chemical Brothers and Battles. They have performed their own live A/V show commissioned by onedotzero that toured with the festival to London, Taipei, Singapore, Buenos Aires and Tokyo.

In 2007, UVA’s responsive light and sound sculpture Volume won a yellow pencil at the D&AD awards, and featured in the London Design Museum’s ‘Design of the Year’ show in 2008. Speed of Light was also featured in the London 'Design of the Year' exhibition, showing the best designs of 2010. UVA were awarded a distinction for their kinetic installation Chorus at the 2010 edition of Prix Arts Electronica. In 2011, Speed of Light was awarded a Creative Review Annual and listed in the Annual as 'Best in Book'.

Recent work has included the moving image festival identity for onedotzero_ adventures in motion in 2011, an exhibition called Hugh Arctic at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, and collaborations with the Creators project including the main stage design for Coachella festival USA and Origin a large-scale responsive LED sculpture in New York, USA.