The Spectrascope
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photograph of the projection of The Spectrascope at Site Gallery Sheffield

 

Above. stills/details from
The Spectrascope, Carbrook Hall, Sheffield
© susan collins 2004

This first version of The Spectrascope was commissioned for the Haunted Media exhibition at Site Gallery Sheffield (february/march 2004).

It featured a pixel-by-pixel live Internet link up to a haunted pub.

The image was collected at the rate of a pixel a second from Carbrook Hall, purported to be Sheffields most Haunted Pub, and then transmitted to the gallery live via the internet.
The image was collected across the room from top left to bottom right in vertical lines. Each complete image representing the previous three and a half days of time. The projection in the gallery was updated continuously throughout the duration of the exhibition with the previous three nights visible on the screen (as bands of black), and the odd changes in light and fluctuations and inevitable 'ghosts in the machine' creating a sense of suspense.

The Spectrascope also introduced the 'fear frequency' to the gallery. This is a frequency of 19hz just below the range of hearing (infrasound), which has been linked to distorted vision (including spectral images), discomfort, and 'irrational' fear.
It has been found to be present at sites of apparently haunted locations.

"Reversing the usual process of parapsychological field research, The Spectrascope offers up the technology itself as the space of haunting and lays it open for the duration of the installation." Jeanine Griffin 2004