(pronounced like this)

EYJAFJALLAJÖKULL from ANTIVJ is a visual label on Vimeo.

I was introduced to projection mapping when my architecture major roommate mentioned it to me last semester during our daily swapping of class stories when we weren’t too tired. I saw couple of videos on what she meant by “projection mapping,” and I was mind-blown. Maybe it was my incredible love for all things cubic and glowing, but I remember looking it up a lot online and recalling an image I saw once that resembled a unique form of projection mapping, which I hadn’t had a name for at the time. I hunted down the image, and then managed to find the video of the work. I’ve since seen that digital landscape in my daydreams. It’s probably my obsession with TRON or Digimon from my childhood creating my bias for the work.

But I mostly admire it because it showed me a future for myself, that I didn’t have to abandon drawing in order for me to engage in abstract computational works that appealed to me. I am at my most comfortable when drawing, but at my most frustrated mode at the same time because my ideas feel dead to me when I practice the craft. I am at my most uncomfortable when coding, but at my most enlightened mindset at the same time because these ideas feel fresh and tingly. To combine both crafts like Lemercier did–to invite someone to a space that recurs in my head, to an imagined, otherworldly environment that I feel free to draw but caged when trying to “render” it–is powerful and inspiring.

Since another thing I’m passionate about is game design, Lemercier’s work presents opportunities in projected gaming space, not just a virtual reality, restricted by four corners of a monitor. I am interested in what abstract visual games like The Sense of Connectedness (Michael Brough) or flOw (Jenova Chen) would look like when projected not in front of you, but all around you, so that it is not merely a projection but an environment. I’m pretty sure Lemercier did not have gaming in mind when creating this project, but it’s been cooking in my mind for a while now. It doesn’t even have to be for games though; just imagine this kind of unearthly landscape (yet familiar to us) surrounding your every being. You aren’t just viewing it, you’re there on the precipice, about to fall into the abyss (that sums up my Grand Canyon experience).

In terms of manpower, it seems the installation was entirely done by Joanie Lemercier with additional help from AntiVJ, a group of five artists and one musician. Lemercier came up with the concept and drew the landscape and directed the lights; the artist from AntiVJ, Simon Geilfus, helped with the visuals. Nicholas Boritch, another artist from the self-proclaimed visual label, helped with the production and coordination in order to make the installation happen.

 

Electronic Countermeasures is a flock of drones that work together to create a pirate file-sharing network for users to locally connect to, providing radical infrastructure for local communities to anonymously share data with each other. I love that they act not only advocate for more connections with our local communities, but also as a performance piece, with the drones’ beautiful choreography and softly glowing LEDs. The project was created by Liam Young of Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today, along with a team of nine people, including a smaller project team and a trio of drone pilots. I’m reminded of the Dead Drops project, both of which point us towards a future where we’ll see more ad-hoc communal storage spaces, especially in light of government efforts like PRISM, compromising the data we share with larger, faceless corporations.

[Additional, excellent interview by TorrentFreak available here!]

Drone in mid-air.

Flower is a game released in 2009 for PS3 developed by Thatgamecompany, an independent game studio with around 12 people. The player controls a gust of wind, blowing flower pedals to bring nature and color to dull landscapes. It was one of my earliest exposures to indie game titles, and it made me realize that games do not need to be exciting, action-packed, story-driven, or in fact have any dialogue at all to be absolutely amazing. It put me onto a rollercoaster of emotions, as I went through calmness, joy, fear, and finally empowerment all within the short span of several hours. By the time I finished the game, chills ran down my spine and my eyes were on the verge of tears. I was not aware a piece of computer software can have such a powerful emotional impact on me until then.

Website of Thatgamecompany: http://thatgamecompany.com/

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nJam5Auwj1E

As someone who is fascinated by weird, abstract concepts such as the 4^th dimension, I was immediately drawn in by the ‘Hypercube’ installation by Jaap van den Elzen. Collaborating with sound designer Augusto Meijer, Jaap van den Elzen created a surreal and disorienting experience that gives the viewer the illusion that they are trapped in infinite space – despite being in an enclosed box that is only 2 meters wide and 2 meters tall. Within the cube, the viewer is surrounded by loud, discordant ambient noise and color-changing neon lights that seem to stretch on for eternity. By shutting the viewer out from reality and immersing them into an area in which their senses are invaded, this audiovisual project provides a new way for people to experience space.

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An article overviewing the project by Mitja Prelovsek