Olivia Sullivan - Art Gene

Digital Liquid, 2019

For this online exhibition Digital U presents a new online commission from Olivia Sullivan. Sullivan’s principle practice revolves around illustration and moving image design, which has a notable impact on her series of 360 | fulldome videos. Within the composite of the videos produced lies a subtle blend between the analogue and digital. As part of Sullivan’s artistic exploration she infuses the digital effects process with shot footage and sound, which brings a natural chaotic flow to her works visuals. The collage in mediums produces a feedback whereby an organic montage of digital bytes and pixels are invoked, yet the movement, sound, and patterns are not solely based on algorithmic computations, but rather the randomness of the physical world. This brings a spatial depth to the work, which filters back to the viewer as if they were staring through into another space.

For this commission Olivia Sullivan chose the natural process of liquid, filming underwater for digital rendering. The result is a cinematic experience that provides the user with an oscillating sensation, one between agency and tranquility.

Digital Liquid, 2019, film stills. Courtesy of Olivia Sullivan.

“I was introduced to 360 | fulldome video through my Master’s course at the Royal College of Art, the Fulldome Research Group is an initiative run as part of the Information Experience Design course. We had access to a dome to test and to see how the works alter in the physical space – away from the ﬂat screens of compositing and editing.”

Olivia Sullivan

Apparition from Olivia Sullivan on Vimeo.

“I ﬁlmed underwater with various inks, tea leaves and natural particles. I chose to focus on liquid for my new series of 360 tests, due to the ﬂuidity and unpredictable nature of movement and volume. The sounds of water can also be manipulated and inform the characteristics of the space. I wanted to escape the some- what rigid and predetermined parameters of digital effects, and to only use them to enhance the organic material.”

Olivia Sullivan

Digital Liquid (2019), process stills. Courtesy of Olivia Sullivan.

Digital Liquid from Olivia Sullivan on Vimeo.

Olivia Sullivan (UK) Bio

Olivia Sullivan’s practice explores visual poetry, psychogeographic stories and environments.
She is an illustrator, comic artist and moving image designer. Her digital work focuses on the use of unusual materials for 360 | fulldome experiences and spaces.

Olivia Sullivan has a Masters in Information Experience Design (Moving Image) from the Royal College of Art. She gained her BA in Illustration from Camberwell College of Arts, UAL.