Projector night was an extremely nerve-wracking experience for me. This wasn’t my first time presenting my art in an exhibition, but becoming involved in the use of VPT made it seem like a new experience altogether. There was so much to take care of; from setting up my projector correctly, to making sure my map was interesting and aesthetically pleasing, to making sure my laptop didn’t fall off of the table. Ultimately, though, I believe that it was a good experience, not only to become acquainted with video mapping, but to become more acquainted with presenting my art in an exhibition in general.
Due to the several mishaps I had with acquiring the proper equipment to project, I had to miss all three of the projector night rehearsals. I did, however, practice mapping on my laptop. I also intended to overlap stock footage with my After Effects creations, but didn’t know that I wasn’t allowed to use them until Angela told me later on the night of the exhibition.
In all honesty, without the stock footage, I didn’t really know what to do with my maps. I mostly just stuck to two predetermined maps I had for the whole night while shifting colors.
I really enjoyed shifting the colors of the different videos I screened and explored the different effects of combining colors. I usually went by a pattern of analogous colors, as they are, to me, more calming to look at, but used complimentary colors as well.
Along with the colors, I liked overlapping different videos or different parts of the same videos over each other. It made for a surreal, almost “trippy” experience. I wanted my maps to seem as if they came from out of this world, and to also bring a sense of inner calm to the viewer. (The window on the bottom corner didn’t bother me that much.)
Since I was in a very versatile spot of the building, I also explored with mapping in the space around me. I enjoyed seeing how different one thing can look on several different “screens”.
My inspiration came mostly from music. I wanted to recreate the calm and the awareness of my surroundings that I feel while listening to ambient music such as that by artists Casino Versus Japan and Tim Hecker.
I was also inspired by 1960s psychedelic visuals…
…and the surrealist 1998 video game LSD Dream Emulator.
Even if my maps weren’t the most dynamic, I think that my goal to create surrealist, colorful, and calming visuals was a success, especially with the help of maneuvering my projector into several different places.
