Light works, experimenal projection mapping

Abstract

INTRODUCTION I’ve been working for years on artistic installations in which appear light sources or light effects directly produced by these sources. After the first three books devoted to Light Art in Italy, where were introduced more than 150 installations of light produced in my country, in 2012 I decided to research and document the experimental work carried out in every part of the world. This decision is based on two considerations: the Italian market is very limited and therefore you are likely to repeat always the same authors; experimentation carried out with the artistic use of light sources and their effects is held by a multiplicity of actors ranging from engineers to performers, directors for artists, hobbyists, lighting designer. For this reason, last year I published the book Light Works , Experimen- tal light art, in which the term “experimental “ was just to indicate one of the fundamental characteristics of artistic research carried out in the field. For the book of this year I wanted to continue the search for new ways to experience the light and that is why I have chosen to focus my work on what is called “ Projection Mapping “ in the U.S., “Video Mapping“ outside the USA and simply “mapping” in Italy. All of these terms define a technique that consists in projecting images or two-dimensional or three-dimensional graphical effects on a surface which can be as well two-dimensional or three-dimensional. The mapping is increasingly being used in Italy in advertising and in the performances on the square and at weekends. Many times , however, the projections of images on the buildings do not find any topological correspondence with the buildings that are used as simple screens , this technique is improperly called Mapping and has little interest in documentary. Mapping the other hand, as the name implies , involves the mapping of the object on which the projections are made and it is required to detect on it a grid of points or positions used to overwrite the images and the projected effects. But the mapping is not limited only to the projection of images and effects on buildings, but it has chosen from the beginning, a variety of subjects on which and with which conduct the first trials , which , accor- ding to research conducted by Brett Jones in his The illustrated Hystory op Projection Mapping are summarized below. The first projections on non-planar surfaces were done in 1969 and used in Disneyland to give terrifying effect to 5 plaster busts called “Grim Grinning Ghost” and it was the super - screening of a 16 mm film. The first experience of immersive projection mapping was done in 1980 by the artist Michael Naimark , that films a camera with a rotating camera on which reprojects some human figures , and in 1994 he patented an apparatus described as “Apparatus and method for projecting on a three-dimensional object“. In 1998 Ramesh Raskar , Greg Welch, Henry Fuchs and Deepak Bandyopadhyay and others submit to the 25th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques. ACM, 1998. “The Office of the Future” with Spatial Augmented Reality devices, such as it was then called the Mapping.In 2001, the group of researchers who follow Raskar introduced what we might call today Mapping, with a lamp - brush that, recognized by a camera, paints colorful lights on a tray. Later the same group used the mapping to change appearance to a model of the Taj Mahal. In 2004, the same researchers use mapping equipment to make the inventory of the goods in a warehouse. Between 2005 and 2006, Oliver Bimber changes the texture with projection mappings in the drapes, creates stamping of a painting and a drawing and for the first time he projects mapping on architecture. Since then, experiments have increased dramatically, and there are currently many Video Mapping festivals such as the Mapping Festival in Geneva, the Fiber Festival in Amsterdam, the Festival of Light in Berlin, the Vivid Live in Sydney. The book Light Works , Experimental Video Mapping 2013 shows 50 works chosen with the help of Cristina Di Pasquali among the most representative performed in the world. Each job is represented by an image and accompanied by the de- scription of the work, the biography of the author and reference links. In addition, each work has an QR code so that through the book, with a tablet or smart phone you can immediately enjoy the moving images, that best illustrate and represent the magic of Mapping more tha