site-specific, interactive, analogue projection mapping
30 analog DIY projectors and three digital video projectors are used to produce an interactively animated shadow-play projection mapping. At the installation site we collect small organic materials like plant parts and dead insects. These small objects are dynamically filmed and then clamped into analog projectors that cover the architecture with their magnified shadow images.
Each projector is part of a wireless communication mesh and can be separately triggered and manipulated by sensory data. Different sensors like microphones, distance and movement trackers are used to control the projections and form an interactive light collage. If people clap it might step. If people sing it might swing. If they pass by it may run away. ParaSights is an interactive light art piece but not in a classical way. Interaction gets diffused here. Like standing in front of an unknown life form. A giant chaotic organism stretches in front of you, what will you do to make contact?
The used projection techniques combine historic, diascopic methods with contemporary video projections. In contrast to classical, purely digital projection mappings coming from the void of a computer chip ParaSights is deeply rooted in the physical realm. Analog shadow images are mixed with digital video projections of the collected organic materials and open a new, post-digital, aesthetic experience. The visitors can interact with a complex, ever-shifting shadow-play on the facade of a building and at the same time can dive into the realtime production process of the imagery by exploring the real-world objects responsible for this light art piece. Have you seen that huge hedgehog on the wall? Oh, wait, its this tiny prickly leave here that fell down from that tree over there.
Motivated by the lack of intimacy in monumental video mappings, we move the viewer’s attention back and forth between a facade projection and the small, organic details of the constricted flora and fauna that persist in our cities. The infinite resolution of analog imagery gets infused with pixel-based video creating an uncommon optical depth that enables new visual experiences.
The DIY projectors are highly adaptive to site-specific situations, they can be mounted on trees, plants, traffic signs, street lamps etc. to transform and alter the atmosphere of a given space. Instead of hiding the technology behind the artwork it becomes a significant part of the artwork itself as sculptural elements of a decentralised, immersive art environment.
Adaption in various forms is at the heart of ParaSights. In times of growing anthropocentrism, locating mankind in the center of everything, this artwork highlights the beauty of the increasingly displaced environmental elements of our reality – reminding us that even within the densest urban fabric, other forms of life continue to exist, persist, and respond.
