Ambient Focus

By Natasha Briggs

Ambient focus is a multi-sensory installation created for a research project inspired by Natasha’s experiences of mental health.

She has created her visuals and an immersive audio track combining real-world ambient sounds and originally composed synthetic soundscapes.

The inspiration behind the overall project was to create a space which removed the participant from the external stress they may be facing and focused inward on their mental and physical well-being. The original idea involves the visual being played by a projector onto a wall with an Ambisonic speaker array, with participants sitting in the middle to experience the sweet spot of aural localisation as if they were in the same environment. 

The influence of sound artists such as Pauline Oliveros and John Cage, with their Zen Buddhism principles to enhance the mindfulness of meditation through sound and Brian Eno’s Ambient Music inspired the composition of the overall audio.

The visuals were created to represent sunset gradient colours, with the impact of creativity from the Californian Light and Space artists of the 1960/70s. Natasha was also inspired by Brion Gysin’s Dreamachine and the use of stroboscopic flicker effects. It was the artist's intention for participants to experience the flicker effect with closed eyes to elicit hallucinogenic internal images, resulting in geometric shapes with vibrant colours.      

This version of the installation does not contain stroboscopic light, but geometric images inspired by the feedback from the original installation participants.