prosthetic knowledge

for(){}; - projection mapped video game on canvas

Playable art by Brent Watanabe features acrylic hand-painted canvases mounted on wall, with sprites projected on surface - video embedded below:

In for( ){ };, there is no beginning or end to the game, just collecting and wandering, birthing and consuming, an arbitrary point system rising until your inevitable death and the birth of another generation. It is a game mechanism without the game. An addictive but essentially aimless experience.
The piece is a triptych of playable acrylic paintings, controlled by the viewer using a NES controller.

Link

NOTE: It has come to my attention that the paintings were put together by Seattle-based artist Cable Griffith, and was shown in his solo exhibition at Kittredge Gallery in Tacoma, called, “Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start.”

You can check out more of Cable’s work here

The Art of Projection Mapping: John Ensor Parker at TEDx NYU Poly

Interesting 15 minute video discusses, from an artist’s point of view, a brief history of technology, art, and culture, and how that leads into the practice of Projection Mapping. Video embedded below:

As our knowledge of the natural world exponentially increases, so does our perception of reality. Scientific and Technological developments affect us as individuals and as a collective species. At TEDxNYU Poly, John Ensor Parker discusses how the art media of projection mapping can be used to generate needed dialogue on the topic.

Firewall

Interactive installation by Aaron Sherwood is a spandex wall which projects disruptions when touched - video embedded below:

Firewall from Aaron Sherwood on Vimeo.

Firewall is an interactive media installation created in collaboration with Mike Allison. A stretched sheet of spandex acts as a membrane interface sensitive to depth that people can push into and create fire-like visuals and expressively play music. More information available on the project’s blog.

Link

Aaron is also responsible for the Glockentar which I posted about here

Glockentar 

Hacked together music instrument mash-up combining a guitar and a glockenspiel, with added projection-mapped lighting on the strings (ssing Arduino, openFrameworks, and MadMapper) - by Aaron Sherwood (video embedded below):

Glockentar from Aaron Sherwood on Vimeo.

The Glockentar combines a glockenspiel with a guitar.

Each time a string is plucked a glockenspiel bell is struck with a solenoid, and a beam of light is projected across the length of the string.

More at Aaron’s blog here

Abstract Christmas tree sparks protests in Brussels 

An updated version of a post made earlier today, now with a video from BBC News

A minimal voxelesque Christmas tree with projection mapping and a staircase to view from it’s top hasn’t gone down well with some …

Thousands of people have signed a petition against an abstract light installation replacing the traditional Christmas tree in Brussels city centre.

More than 11,000 signatures have been gathered in the online petition and a Facebook page attacking the new feature has been launched.

Critics accuse officials of opting for the installation for fear of offending non-Christians, especially Muslims.

Maddy Savage reports.

The Digital Desk 

An experimental gestural interface developed in 1991 by Pierre Wellner combining projection and computing turning a physical desktop into a computer desktop-like environment - video embedded below:

The idea for using cameras and projectors together to form an interactive desk-top system was first proposed by Pierre Wellner. He began his PhD work by considering the potential benefits of using video in the office environment. This quickly led to the conclusion that the desk-top was the most important focus of office work and that there was great potential for any system that eased the transition between paper and electronic information (Wellner 1993). The idea was tested in a project that used video scanning to translate selected foreign words from paper documents lying face-up on the desk. 

You can find out more about the project at Xerox Research Centre’s website here, as well as this online presentation (very 90’s HTML) here

Chiaroscuro (Étude Op. 3, No.3) by Sougwen 

Installation where drawing and projection meet to create a different experience - video embedded below:

Chiaroscuro (Étude Op. 3, No.3) from sougwen on Vimeo.

Ink on paper | Projection & LEDs | 8ft x 5.5ft | 2012

Chiaroscuro is an installation piece that utilizes light as an artifice of visual perception. It explores the interplay of light and shadow on a dimensional drawing form. Strata of abstract, monochromatic line-work are suspended on a wall, giving off the illusion that lines themselves are extending beyond the flat plane. Coils of light are nested asymmetrically within the form, responding to the variations of sound in the environment and illuminating the surface with a pulsing ambiance. Projected light is mapped onto the exterior from a distance, revealing and obscuring the piece throughout the course of the installation.

Exhibited at “Of Art and Artifice” hosted by Ghostly International at The Art Directors Club Gallery in NYC.

You can find more of the artist’s works at her website here, and you can check her Tumblr blog here

Anarchy Dance Theatre 

Taiwanese dance group perform in specially designed interactive projected space created by UltraCombo to great effect - video below:

The collaboration project between Anarchy Dance Theatre and Ultra Combos focused on building up a new viewer centered performance venue. In this space all movements including the dancers’ and audience’s can be detected and interact with each other through visual effect. The audience is not merely watching the show but actively participating in it.

More about the group and their project can be found here

Rotomap 3000 

Arcade-style interactive installation by G8 Labs demonstrates the idea of 3D projection mapping on a moving object - video embedded below:

Rotomap 3000 @ Platine Festival from G8 Labs on Vimeo.

Rotomap 3000 is a funky Visual Music Arcade Game with 3D Projection Mapping.

See it at PLATINE FESTIVAL 2012 in Cologne. platine-cologne.de

Made with vvvv and love by G8 Labs.

Impressive as it is, it isn’t (to my mind) the first documented version of projection on a moving object - Star Night by Daito Manabe managed to so a year ago on a huge hanging cube [link]

Adagio for Jon and Helena

A contemporary example of liquid light projection, which is abstract and natural, yet produces alien forms. But together by Michael Scroggins:

“Adagio for Jon and Helena” (2009, 5:02, HD 1080p reduced to 720p for Vimeo) is a continuous take digital recording of a live solo liquid light projection performance dedicated to my liquid light teachers Jon Greene and Helena Lebrun. Jon Greene studied liquid light projection with Helena Lebrun who had studied with liquid light projection pioneer Elias Romero.

Unfortunately, the video cannot be embedded here, but you can watch it at Vimeo here

3D Pacman Room by Keita Takahashi 

Pacman game designed to be played on three walls and the ceiling, offering disorientating fun - video embedded below:

Via Kotaku:

Ever wonder what it would be like if a single game of Pac-Man was projected on to the walls of a room? Well here’s what it looks like!

The installation was done for the Babycastles Summit at the Museum of Art and Design, and envisioned by Keita Takahashi, creator of Katamari Damacy.

Augmented Reality - Projection Mapping 

Short film exploring the use of projection mapping, interviewing artists who employ the technique:

A short documentary by Dane Luttik

Mapping projects by AntiVJ

0.14 3Destruct (AntiVJ 2011)
1.16 Nuits sonores (AntiVJ 2009)
1.20 Mécaniques Discursives (Legoman 2012)
1.22 St Gervais (AntiVJ 2010)
5.45 EYJAFJALLAJÖKULL (Joanie Lemercier - AntiVJ 2012)
6.48 Enghien (AntiVJ - 2009)

more info: antivj.com/

Mapping projects by Jean-Michel Verbeeck

1.29 Hexastruct
2.43 Quantum

MUSIC BY NOSAJ THING

Live Subtitles 

Art installation from 2005 by Gareth Long used speech-recognition software to capture what people were saying around the piece, and were printed onto paper as well as projected onto a screen.

A transcript of one of the captures is available here, although it is very repetitive and almost abstract it has a visual pattern quality as you scroll through.

More info here

Tagtool Touch 

App specifically designed for real-time drawing and animation, particularly for large projections:

The Tagtool is a performative visual instrument used on stage and on the street. It serves as a VJ tool, a creative video game, or an intuitive way of creating animation.

The system is operated collaboratively by an artist drawing the pictures and an animator adding movement to the artwork with a gamepad. The design achieves virtually unlimited artistic complexity with a simple set of controls.

You can find out more here