RECOMBINANT MEDIA LABS (RML) was founded to research the qualities and artistic potential of spatial media. It does so by means of Experiential Engineering; exploring processes that expand the aesthetic and technological boundaries of panoramic installations, surround cinema, and multichannel a/v performances. RML acts as producer and presenter of artworks and performances based on Spatial Media Synthesis; intermodal works using image, light, sound and other disseminated media in three-dimensional space.

After years of working in a fixed location within the central city of San Francisco, a new organization with a focus onto mobile setups has been founded. This was done in order to formulate an answer to the increasing requests for international presentations at museums and festivals. Over the years Recombinant Media Labs has built up a selected resource of artworks and it was time to highlight this body of AV pieces out to the world. Freed from the constraints of a geographically anchored construction, RML’s nomadic approach is also able to offer residencies together with organizations in metropolitan locations. This vanguard hybrid media platform encompasses many presentational options to potential partners, (co)-producers and curators.

Pivotal to this initiative stands the CineChamber, a large but intimate rectangular surround surface apparatus, capable of scaling its 36′ by 24′ proportions to fit into the auditoriums, theatre stages and concert halls everywhere on the global circuit.

Although one can walk around the flexibly adjoined screen construction and observe the content externally, the main attraction lies within the spacious panoramic interior, encompassed on all sides by the multi channel audio and image setup in customizable formations.

The platform offers extensive immersive intermedia production opportunities and can be utilized by engineers and innovators in a variety of ways – from co-active wrap around synesthesia to telegenic performance settings, from realtime installation interactions with live music to programmed exhibition screenings. The RML CineChamber provides international artists the opportunity to take their creative impulse to the furthest frontiers of aural, optical & cinematic language, and propagates them in a comprehensive and rarefied environment. Numerous renowned artists have created modules for the CineChamber

The RML CineChamber has generated worldwide interest as a place for artistic and academic residencies. This advanced accommodation enables artists in residence to fully experiment with the latest audio, visual and interactive technologies. We strongly believe that the process of fabrication and composition is just as important as the subsequent premiere presentation of the project. Therefore residencies often include work in progress test run demonstrations or workshops.

The RML CineChamber installation consists of 10 screens in a 2×3 rectangle, each screen having 12 feet width, and standing 6 feet 9 inches tall; this makes the whole area total 24 x 36 feet, with 360 degree surround projection.

While RML’s fundamental design was integrated into the architecture of the auditorium, the screen setup was reconfigured as a “CineChamber”; a floating panoramic rectangle that is viewable on both sides of the suspended movie surfaces that can be more easily transported. While the preliminary visual playback was similar, an entirely revamped video engine solution based on a computer cluster enabling real time random access to content, more scalability and eventually even greater optical spatialization and graphic manipulation capabilities is being developed.