Electrosonic was responsible for the audio-visual design, systems engineering and installation for an exhibition to promote the launch of the Millennium Seedbank. One of the largest conservation projects ever undertaken, and spearheaded by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the Millennium aims to safeguard over 24,000 plant species worldwide from extinction. Seedbank. Located in the new Wellcome Trust Millennium Building at Wakehurst, Sussex, and designed by Land Design Studio, the Seed Bank exhibition shows visitors why the project is necessary, and how the teams of experts will store millions of seeds from around the world in vast underground vaults. The AV presentation includes a video shown on a plasma display screen and run from an Electrosonic MPEG2 vido server with ESLINX show control. The ESLINX control system is also used to control a number of other elements in the display, such as a turntable, Polyvision LCD film reveal and light boxes. In the main exhibition area, an interactive display allows visitors to experience the processing and research involved in the project. This uses 15" LCD touchscreens; all computers are stored ina central control room, with signal distribution via Cat 5 cable. Finally, a virtual reality tour of the -20°C cold storage vaults, where visitors can open selected jars of seeds and then ‘travel’ to their place of collection.
