teamLab Biovortex Kyoto Museum

TeamLab (previously here), the international “ultra-technologist" artist collective, has created a permanent museum in Kyoto which opens today! Called the Biovortex Kyoto Museum, the nearly 110,000 square foot space holds 50 different art works which are total multi-sensory, immersive spaces. The magical works can be seen in the video below.

https://www.teamlab.art/e/kyoto/

"Murmurations" by Shared Space and Light

I love art installations that feature projection mapping and English video art collective Shared Space and Light creates some gorgeous pieces. I was especially struck by their presentation Murmurations, a projection of starlings flying along the coast off Brighton using the windows of a converted church.

Their site explains:
Living in Brighton near the sea it's impossible to be unaware of the daily ebb and flow of starlings along the coast. They've roosted in numerous sites along the seafront and we've filmed their murmurations about 50 times over the years, often in slow motion to capture the full majesty.

So what a pleasure to be able to draw on this resource to make an installation for the art gallery Fabrica here in Brighton - we tested rear projecting onto the 3 tall windows of the converted church that face onto the street.

Content-wise there were several challenges - how to add graphic layers to the flight of the starlings to emphasise their collective motion and flight paths; getting the flocks of starlings to look like they were flying inside the church, and finally the content also needed to respond to the dense gridding of the windows.

Master musician Owen Crouch made a soundtrack that echoes the gently shifting parallax and layering.

The installation ran nightly from outside Fabrica Gallery in Brighton from November 2020 to January 2021, then was adapted for the beautiful Kirkstall Abbey at the Leeds Light Night Festival, and again at Fabrica over Christmas/New Year 2021/22.

https://www.sharedspaceandlight.com/

"Head On" by José González

"Head On' by José González (previously here).

 
Yes.

González says, "I'm thrilled to share with you 'Head On'. I wrote it as a combat song or a list of instructions...a manual. I mean both ‘straight ahead’ and head ON - as in switching on your mind. It was inspired by Fela Kuti’s 'Zombie' and the way I used to write lyrics for my hardcore band.

Video director Cee Karlsson says: 'The animations for ‘Head On’ are based on a cellular automaton called ‘Game of Life’ created by mathematician John Horton Conway. ’Game of Life’ has emergent properties, meaning that complex forms can arise, or evolve, through simple individual parts. Without any designer, plan or intent. In the video, we used visuals from ‘Game of Life’ as an analogy for the flow of information; bits of information forming patterns. Adapting. Evolving. Mutating. Like memes, or mind viruses; positive, neutral or negative. Traveling from mind to mind in a never-ending war of ideas that we all participate in and are influenced by.'"

 

Action
Reaction
Stay with it
Hang on
Engage
Disengage
Deal with it head on

Head on

Inhale
Exhale
Wave coming
Undertow
Speed up
Go slow
Put on your new boots and deal with it
While marching on

Head on

Speak up
Stand down
Pick your battles
Look around
Reflect
Update
Pause your intuitions and deal with it head on

Head on

Rent seekers
Value extractors
Corrupt oligarchs
Power snatchers
Pervert incentives
Ludic loops
Nepotism
Tribal troops

Deflate
Escalate
Hit the sweet spot
Ignore the hate
Forget your miracles
Forget your god
Join forces and deal with it head on

Head on

http://jose-gonzalez.com/

AURA at the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal

Earlier this year, multimedia stuido Moment Factory unveiled their newest creation using mind-boggling projection mapping to highlight the interior Gothic architecture and art of the Notre-Dame Basilica in old Montreal. Trees full of lush green or ripe with orange autumn leaves seem to loom over the arches of the soaring basilica, snow and lightning swirl above, and scintillating specks and lines of light limn columns, statues, and figures in paintings. This 45 minute show called AURA took a year to plan and create, another 90 days to install, and utilizes 21 projectors, 140 lights, and 20 mirrors. The accompanying original soundtrack composed by Marc Bell and Gabriel Thibaudeau required 30 musicians, 20 chorists and the basilica’s organ.

The Moment Factory website's official page states the mission:

"The Fabrique de la paroisse Notre-Dame de Montréal asked Moment Factory to create a permanent experience with sound, light and video that would invite visitors to discover the Notre-Dame Basilica in old Montreal in a whole new way.

Our challenge was to create a show that is universal, that captivates, touches, and inspires visitors from any background. Moreover, a show that highlights the Baslica’s many artworks and architecture, all while respecting the religious heritage and activity of the church. The canvas was also a challenge from a technical point of view, being the first example of such complex colour, texture, and scale, resulting in a video-mapping process done pixel by pixel.

AURA begins as a self-led tour to explore the basilica, discovering multimedia installations that showcase various of the basilica’s cherished artworks. This first part of the experience encourages visitors to explore the basilica’s details at their own pace and to become enveloped in
its universe.

Then light, original orchestral scores, and grandiose architecture unite to create a multimedia show whose captivating energy takes visitors from floor to ceiling,
and beyond."

This is for ma chère amie Odette who saw such psychedelic light shows in her own tiny chapel while growing up in France as an imaginative little girl in tune with mystical forces.

http://aurabasiliquemontreal.com/
https://momentfactory.com/work/all/all/aura

BEAUTY: Installation--Miguel Chevalier at Nuit Blanche 2016

For this year's Nuit Blanche celebration in Paris on October 1st, 2016, artist Miguel Chevalier created a stunning projection installation in the Saint-Eustache Church.

His website artist statement says:
"For many years, the Saint Eustache Church has shared in such great moments of the artistic life of the city of Paris as Nuit Blanche (All-Nighter), an occasion to offer some 10,000 night visitors the opportunity to discover the city’s historical heritage.
For Nuit Blanche 2016, Father George Nicholson, Priest of Saint-Eustache and Françoise Paviot, curator in charge of contemporary art at the Saint Eustache Church, are proposing Miguel Chevalier’s virtual-reality installation 'Voûtes Célestes.' This new is accompanied by musical improvisations played by Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard, titular organist for Saint Eustache Church’s great organ and repertoires performed by Les Chanteurs de Saint-Eustache.

'Voûtes Célestes' is a generative and interactive virtual-reality artwork projected onto the Saint Eustache Church’s chancel vaults, its central nave, its transept crossing, and its two transepts. Surprising imaginary sky charts are created in real time. The visitor discovers a variety of colored networks of light that spread out in the form of sinuous webs. These large meshes take form and then lose their shape, changing following the movements of visitors in the central nave, creating ever renewed, diversified universes.
'Voûtes Célestes' highlights the site’s architecture, the volumes of the columns and ribbed vaults come to life before our eyes. Their colorful gridworks create surprising trompe l’oeil effects. These suspended universes accentuate one’s impression of the monument’s loftiness and lightness.
Visitors are invited to stroll around, to sit in the pews, and to lift up their eyes toward the heavens. These digital constellations of pixels immerse visitors in an atmosphere bathed in light while opening unto infinity. The installation releases radiant energy into this space of plenitude. Amplified by Saint Eustache’s organ music, the installation induces a spiritual and contemplative feeling of elevation. Light, color and movement create a poetics of matter and elaborate a new aesthetics of virtuality."

Nuit Blanche is a marvelous arts festival which takes place in Paris on the first Saturday of October. Started in 2002, the free, all-night event combines visual arts of all kinds with music, perfromance, and dance at venues spanning the city. Naturally, artists take advantage of the darkness of night and many works and installations are light-based. Chevalier's "Voûtes Célestes" was presented from 8:30PM to 6AM. The principal organist at Saint-Eustache, Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard, played improvised music while watching the kaleidoscopic, psychedelic patterns morphing overhead.

http://www.miguel-chevalier.com/en/voutes-celestes
www.saint-eustache.org

"Levitation" by Sila Sveta

"Levitation" is a collaborative performance by Sila Sveta (specialists in cutting-edge 3D Projection Mapping and 3D stage designs,) and Russian choreographer Anna Abalikhina. The company says that all visuals were rendered in real time without any post production. It's a startling presentation that comes from the simple process of tilting the performing stage in conjunction with projection mapping.

http://en.silasveta.com/

Reality Dress by Ece Ozalp

This amazing project was created for Turkish fashion designer Ece Ozalp's Spring/Summer 2016 Reality collection: projection mapping on one of her silhouettes. Stunning work.

http://eceozalpdesign.com/

"Le Petit Chef" by Skullmapping

Skullmapping, the artistic collective run by Antoon Verbeeck and Filip Sterckx used 3D projection mapping techniques and sound effects to create their newest project "Le Petit Chef." I would love to start a meal this way!

www.skullmapping.com

"BOX"

I have posted other videos of projection mapping installations in the past (here), but this one is just incredible. It features projection mapping on moving surfaces with the interaction of a human being. Incredible.

Bot & Dolly, the production company responsible for this amazing feat says, "The short film documents a live performance, captured entirely in camera. Bot & Dolly produced this work to serve as both an artistic statement and technical demonstration. It is the culmination of multiple technologies, including large scale robotics, projection mapping, and software engineering. We believe this methodology has tremendous potential to radically transform theatrical presentations, and define new genres of expression."
I'll say.

And it concludes with one of my favorite quotes, by Arthur C. Clarke...

http://www.botndolly.com/box