UVA - Exclusive documentary with Battles Footage

United Visual Artists are extremely well known for their visuals for music acts such as Massive Attack, and most recently the Chemical Brothers in Trafalgar Square, but they also produce phenomenal interactive works combining light, video and sound.

They've transformed the John Madejski garden at the V&A museum with Volume, a light and sound sculpture that coaxed visitors into its light forest where it would react to the audience's movement through colour and sound, creating a living entity. They've cultivated happy accidents in their artistic endeavour Echo at the Tate's Turbine Hall, an 8-minute performance incorporating dancers with a distorted screen playback of their movement creating an optical illusion. And their work has extended to video installations - Hereafter at Belsay Hall captured a visitor's presence, which was then relayed back on a flatscreen, capturing the history of the space like a delayed mirror; and music videos, like their recent promo for the mighty Battles, behind-the-scenes footage of which can be seen in this exclusive documentary made for Dazed Digital.

Click here to watch 'Seduced by Light - UVA'

Q&A with Freire Barnes, interviewer for the Seduced by Light documentaries (Jason Bruges, UVA, David Batchelor):

Dazed Digital: How was it interviewing these artists, and who was the most interesting?
Freire Barnes: It was fascinating as they all work in different remits to each other, therefore opening up new aspects of technology and ideologies towards light. You could probably say that Jason Bruges and UVA are more commercial artists, as they work more with design and architecture, and that David Batchelor would be considered more an artist in the "Fine Art" sense. It was interesting being able to see their working environments and how that differs, where the hive of activity was occurring in creation of work and ideas. I probably found the most depth with David Batchelor, yet there was real dynamism with UVA and their techniques, and intriguing equipment.

DD: What was the biggest challenge making the films?
FB: None really, maybe learning about the varying techniques of Jason Bruges and UVA, although this was more fascinating than challenging.

DD: Have they made you think about light differently?
FB: Yes, very much so and I think this is from 'our' perception of light and how it can dramatically change your viewpoint. There is the element "like a moth to flame" in its attracting, hypnotising factor, and then also the diversity as a medium, where it can be manipulated to each artist's gain.

See the rest of the documentaries