Martha Fiennes’ digital Nativity Scene
Tradition and cutting-edge technology come together in Covent Garden this Christmas with a Nativity scene unlike any you’ve ever seen. Even its creator, visual artist Martha Fiennes, will not know what to expect next as her ever-changing, ethereal, digital artwork has been coded to evolve and change in a random and unpredictable way.
This unique centrepiece will provide everyone visiting and working around Covent Garden with a chance to stop and contemplate the story of the birth of Christ. It’s the story at the heart of Christmas, but in this nativity scene it’s never told the same way twice.
Visual artist Martha Fiennes is an award-winning director, whose films
include ‘Onegin’, starring her brother Ralph. Her company, SLOimage, has created a unique style that uses digital
technology to make a still image appear to ‘come alive’.
With live actors and a high-tech film set, Fiennes has created a tableau of
Mary, Joseph and Jesus, the Magi, angels and onlookers, within a digital
painting. As visitors gaze on the work, the mesmerising image moves through
many evolving states. Day could fall slowly into night, a character might
move, enter or leave the scene, or perhaps it might even begin to snow.
These subtle but significant changes happen unpredictably, giving off a mysterious beauty that seems fitting for a subject that has captured the imagination of so many artists through the centuries, from medieval times to the Renaissance and onwards.
The work will be exhibited on a large screen in a contemporary log cabin located in the Piazza every day from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. until January 2nd 2012.
