In a spectacular, sculptural work, forms built from paper become organic backdrops for undulating pixels in an audiovisual work by Daniel Schwarz. I like that he describes this as partially “non-mapped.” That is, if projection mapping is the use of software to create calculated virtual geometries on which to project, you can also just point a beamer at something that isn’t flat and see what happens. The appeal of projection mapping is to me really about getting away from flat rectangles – not that there’s anything wrong with them, but because it expands the canvas on which digital projection can work. Sometimes, you want perfectly-tuned mappings, but sometimes you actually want distortion and imperfection. It’d be a shame to lose sight of the latter just because of the novelty (and now ease) of the former.
What makes this work beautiful to me is the transformation of imaginative forms in space. Daniel describes the work:
I used mapped and non-mapped audio-reactive projections on paper sculptures and filmed it with a [Canon] 5d mark II. It’s kind of a journey through a dystopic landscape to the music of Amon Tobin.
Programming was all done in vvvv, editing in Final Cut Pro 7.
I also want so say a big thank you, because i basically made this video thanks to your blog post concerning the Amon Tobin Fan Video
Project.
Hey, thank you! (Curious to see more results of that project.) And here’s another case where you might still want to keep those SLRs around, not just the fancy new iPhone. (I’m also glad I don’t have to deal with mobile carriers to buy cameras.)
Behind-the-scenes photos: