Tech Services - Gallery-O-Matic

Gallery-O-Matic is a custom computer hardware &/or software system to provide a straightforward and reliable method of playing digital video in art galleries.

Each system is built to customer specifications and can provide video and audio output to televisions, video projectors, computer monitors, public address systems or whatever else may be required.

The design of Gallery-O-Matic was inspired by my experience handling the technical side of exhibitions in The Artsite Gallery.

I recognised the need for some kind of video system that was more reliable than a DVD player simply by needing to respond the multiple cries of "Andy, it's stuck again!".

I also realised that the computer based system that I tested in our former "art gym" (as one of my colleagues referred to it) were too complex to expect non-technical people to be able to shut down.

This led to a system that can be switched on at the flick of a switch and, more importantly, turned off without any kind of shutdown procedure except another simple flick of a switch that could play virtually any format of digital video that's thrown at it in a continuous loop without any further human intervention.

The most reliable form of Gallery-O-Matic holds it's video-data on an internal hard-disk but, as this requires technical know-how to swap old videos for new, a simpler (but less reliable) version is available that plays video from a USB memory stick.

The Gallery-O-Matic that has been built from scrap computer components can be seen in operation at The Post Modern in Swindon (during exhibitions and events that use digital video) But other systems can be built to be shiny or "punk", large or small, whatever is most suitable to your requirements.