Friday 11 January 2008

Laser Test

Beams of light link the towers of the two cathedrals along Hope Street. These will be visible on misty or rainy evenings, but they are also the conduits for voices to be passed between the two buildings. What is being sent is a growing collection of hopeful phrases and utterances that are drawn directly from the people of Liverpool distributed through a contemplative soundspace that links the two Cathedrals.

To achieve the above aspiration means that the project team have had to overcome significant technical challenges to use green laser to transmit audio between the Liverpool Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Green laser is being used as a medium because it has superior visibility to red laser. Therefore, we will then be able to achieve the kind of iconic image which the project team wants when the installation is in situ later this year.

A test of the green laser's visiblity was carried in late November last year. The above video was taken of the laser as the team carried out the test from the tower of the Liverpool Cathedral. The laser was fired from the tower towards the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Not only was it visible from the tower but could also be clearly seen from the ground.

This gave some Liverpool people a short glimpse of what will be visible in the night skies during October and November of this year.

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