Illuminate Yaletown is a light and projection artists’ event held each February in Vancouver, brightening the winter nights in the downtown neighbourhood.

Stuart’s Yaletown Project Mapping Test #2 installation uses the emerging art form of “mapping” to transform a building into a screen, making it a light-driven moving sculpture.

Recent technologies have broken the rectangular barriers of media presentation formats. The limitations of 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios are becoming a thing of the past. The same goes for 2D screens. What if, in addition to making the content 3D, the screen was also 3D? Why even have traditional screens?

Contemporary media pioneers are exploring the possibilities of video projection on alternative surfaces — primarily architecture — but also on sculpture, vehicles, and other physical objects. This, itself, is not a new art form, but the creation of visual media to harmonize with the physical shapes of a projected surface has been a recent development, originating in Europe in the past 10 years. The advances of computer processing power, as well as video projection systems, have made this art form, called “mapping”, possible.

The presentation surface can now play a role in the artistic narrative of a media piece. In most cases, this means that the architectural narrative of form and space can be considered during the creative process. What ‘fits’ the aesthetic, the shape, and the story?

The content being presented is not in a traditional start-to-finish linear narrative. Rather, individual pieces have been made to match the building’s shapes, and graphical imagery has been broken into themes. Using a real-time media playback system, different parts of the building’s projected imagery can be changed, creating a non-linear and manipulable narrative.
I was fortunate enough to collaborate with music producers James Teej, and Marc Nyiti to create a soundtrack for the installation. The sounds are translated by video filters, in real-time, to adjust the video output, creating a synesthetic effect.

But what does it all mean?
I’ve got a large presentation surface for use as an artist with no corporate limitations. In addition to the visual delights and intrigues that most people come to see, is there a message I want to convey as an artist? Absolutely. Globally, we can see the problems that result when we fail to communicate or fail to listen, but we can also see evidence of the unbounded possibilities resulting from understanding and mutual respect. I want to send this message, but only if the audience wants to see it.

My intention isn’t to hijack the show, but instead to have the audience embrace the experience, thereby ‘adjusting their vision’ and seeing the graphic imagery of possibility, hope, fear, truth, and freedom.

I asked Digital Design Senior Instructor Casey Yee, who is an accomplished interface developer, if he was interested in building an interactive aspect to this piece. He agreed, and went on to develop an audience-controlled adjustable tuner. It can unlock some emotionally charged and inspirational content when used by an interactive viewer.

Illuminate Yaletown is still in its infancy, but is in good standing to become one of Canada’s premier light installation expos. That’s why it’s so incredibly thrilling to have been able to be a part of this event. I would like to thank James Teej, Marc Nyiti, Casey Yee, Josef Chung, Mac Station, and the Yaletown Business Improvement Association for all their help and efforts.

There were some great projections onto buildings throughout Yaletown, and it’s clear that there are some talented artists in Vancouver working in the field.

Let’s hope we get to see a lot more projection mapping in Vancouver.

Original Post on the VFS website