Eric Corriel Studios

multidisciplinary art studio • immersive and interactive public art • art activism • digital/electronic art • nyc

Pool Portals

Site-specific immersive video installation, 2013

Nighttime photograph of a woman standing in the middle of an 8-inch-high pool. Projected from above is a crazy multi-colored lightshow that covers her eyes in a ray of purple light while the liquid she's standing in (milk, btw) catches the purple, blue, and violet rays that fall around her.
Photo by Nils Ericson

“It’s like dancing inside a rainbow” — a child Shown at LUMEN Festival, Staten Island, New York

Pool Portals is a playful, immersive video installation inspired by thinking about what it may look and feel like to be transported through a portal. It was created for the Lumen Festival, which took place inside an empty Olympic-sized swimming pool on Staten Island, New York City.

Opening night

Pools are transformative spaces. Entering into one means a fairly dramatic change in one’s immediate surroundings. We like to “get our feet wet” and “take the plunge”—idioms that refer both to water and different ways we navigate unfamiliar territory. When we’re in a pool, our body movements and the way we transport ourselves through space take on a character all their own.

Nighttime photograph of a child in a small pool, the surface of which is being projected onto with a fluorescent pink and green concentric rectilinear pattern with a black diamond at the center, which is where the child is putting their foot
Photo by Nils Ericson
Nighttime photograph of a group of children playing in a small pool, the surface of which is being projected onto with a teal green geometric pattern
Photo by Kevin Moore
Nighttime photograph of a naked toddler standing in the middle of a small pool, the surface of which is being projected onto with a green, orange, and yellow pattern of concentric rectangles
Photo by Kevin Moore
Nighttime close-up photograph of rippling water in a small pool, the surface of which is being projected onto with a geometric rainbow of stacked green, red, blue, and orange rectangles
Photo by Nils Ericson
Nighttime photograph of a small pool inside which a small child and an adult play. Projected on the surface is a white spiral of concentric geometric shapes
Photo by Nils Ericson
Small thumbnail image of Nighttime photograph of a child in a small pool, the surface of which is being projected onto with a fluorescent pink and green concentric rectilinear pattern with a black diamond at the center, which is where the child is putting their foot
Small thumbnail image of Nighttime photograph of a group of children playing in a small pool, the surface of which is being projected onto with a teal green geometric pattern
Small thumbnail image of Nighttime photograph of a naked toddler standing in the middle of a small pool, the surface of which is being projected onto with a green, orange, and yellow pattern of concentric rectangles
Small thumbnail image of Nighttime close-up photograph of rippling water in a small pool, the surface of which is being projected onto with a geometric rainbow of stacked green, red, blue, and orange rectangles
Small thumbnail image of Nighttime photograph of a small pool inside which a small child and an adult play. Projected on the surface is a white spiral of concentric geometric shapes

Pool Portals moves several steps beyond the typical pool experience towards a new type of transportation modality.

Nighttime photograph of a small child in pajamas looking down is illuminated by an orange light emanating from the colorful surface of the pool he is standing in
Photo by Kevin Moore
Nighttime photograph of a small girl looking down at her feet which are immersed in a pool of white liquid onto which a blue and pink geometric pattern is projected
Photo by Kevin Moore

Pool Portals runs for 20 minutes on loop and measures 12' x 12' x 15'. It was created with custom software written by the artist in OpenFrameworks.

The blooper reel
More Pool Portals: