We learnt about this collective of multimedia artists based in Osaka, Japan when we saw them taking part in the Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF 2020) last year.

We were amazed by their fearless attitude to mix tradition, modern underground culture and technology, as we highlighted when we wrote about some art works of their audiovisual portfolio.


Here’s more about their past, present and future…

(Japanese below　日本語下記)

Audiovisual City: We would love to start the interview with you telling us a bit about Cosmic Lab and its origin…

Cosmic Lab: Cosmic Lab is a laboratory that pursues the expansion of cognition through unknown audio-visual experiences. It is a project that I (VJ Colo Muller) started, rooted in the activities within the underground culture scene of Osaka. While focusing on the live visuals system that we continue to develop independently and the content and live performances that are born from it, we are also engaged in artwork production, branding of companies and regions, and projects related to the live entertainment industry.

Especially recently, we are speeding up the development of the COSMIC LAB XR Live System to try to create a new live experience for this era.

AVC: The project Quasar really caught our attention. We are very interested in this innovative tool to produce audiovisual in a very intuitive way.
Can you share the creative process behind the development and design of the QUASAR machine?

CL: I have been wanting to play “video/visuals” in a musical and improvised way since those days where I started VJing using VHS and LaserDisc. I was amazed by the incredibly innovative live A/V performance of EBN (Emergency Broadcasting Network) I encountered in New York around 1998. Then a few years later in Japan, I went to a A/V live show of COLD CUT (Timber may be a referential song), who were strongly influenced by EBN, and this experience was crucial for the project. I think they (COLD CUT) were the first ones to extend hiphop’s sampling methods to AV.

Finally, meeting Hifana and Kireek, who had been evolving their AV performances in Japan in an original manner, was a decisive fact for QUASAR to be born. More specifically, Hifana’s “Skipless Loop” song with Locked Groove as a concept, and the marking tapes used by turntablists were a great inspiration in terms of logic. With Locked Groove, the loop length for 133 BPM will be 4 beats, that is, one round will be one bar (in the case of 33rpm). I wondered what kind of world we could get to create if we used this mechanism when composing a sequence with sampled one-shot and loop images. This is how QUASAR’s prototyping began and how it lead to today.

Regarding the creativity of Quasar, there is the word “chanpuruu” in the dialect of the Okinawa region of Japan, and the word “chanpuuru” which has a similar sound in Indonesian. They both mean the same: “to mix, blend in”. 

This example suggests that there can be similarities in things that seem unrelated and completely unconnected at first, but when you put them side by side, you may be able to see the bigger picture and discover a better outline that you couldn’t quite appreciate until then. By intuitively and visually mixing in various sound and image fragments using Quasar, new grooves can arise unexpectedly, or a mysterious ritual space might be created. I think that this is a futuristic and primitive sensation brought about by the high degree of freedom unique to the digital world.

AVC: We feel there is a connection with the Reactable machine. Did you get inspired by the machine developed in Barcelona back in 2003?

CL: I got to make great use of my knowledge of “reacTIVision” through the device created for the installation “Space Echo” that Cosmic Lab worked on before Quasar. The installation was a 360-degree omnidirectional projection mapping on a circular ancient tomb created nearly 1300 years ago. We made the device to continuously change sound and images, creating a reminiscent effect of the ancient world.

AVC: What is the future of Quasar in terms of applications and creative outputs?

CL: I would love to visit diverse cultural areas, record and film local sounds and dances of the people living there, do some field recordings of the natural and environmental sounds, and build on collaborations with local artists. We want to continue the audio-visual cross-breeding sessions within the world of QUASAR, and create an AV ritual space that evolves independently.

There are only two devices at the moment, but I think it would be interesting to release a design that allows an environment where everyone can play or to use it as a game.



AVC: Your artwork features limitless experimentation and fusion among different cultures. In “Magnetic” we can see a fusion with the hip-hop culture while in the Koyasan’s 1200th Anniversary, audiovisual meets the tradition of Japanese Buddhism.

How do you achieve a cohesive project narrative when approaching such different art forms?

CL: During my career as a VJ, I had the chance to come across different youth cultures and communities. As an artist expressing oneself as an outsider in a sense, I kept seeking the feelings and expressions on the spot where personal interests and the committing core converged. I believe pursuing your own personal interests without being trapped by common sense is important in the process of integrating different concepts in new ways.

LivePaintShowcase “MAGNETIC”

AVC: In “Magnetic”, what is the main artistic concept behind the implementation of projection mapping as an artistic layer for the live graffiti?

CL: Together with live paint duo Doppel, we have been aiming to establish a highly improvised showcase combining real-time video expression, live paint, and DJ / turntablist, all three as one. With the use of projection mapping we control the timescale and sequence until the mural painting is completed, and this way the process itself was constructed as a musical performance.

高野山1200年の光  | Koyasan 1200 Year Anniversary

AVC: In the Koyasan 1200th Anniversary, how did you orchestrate the entire performance involving buddhist chants, Japanese drums and Audiovisual?

CL: The mission given to COSMIC LAB for this project was just a visualization of the chanting, but I tried to imagine over and over what sorts of phenomena would happen in that space, and what kind of experiences the present people (audience) would share. When it actually happened, the amazing reality that I had in front of my eyes was beyond my imagination. 

We achieved to recreate a meditative and profound dance floor that I had not encountered too many times in my life before. 

Moreover, there was not a limited number of generations, but a wide variety of people, from the elderly likely to be over 80 years old to small children, who gathered and shared their experiences. After the performance, an old couple came up to us and told us: “Thank you, that was a good meido no miyage (literally: “a souvenir of the darkness*).
*something that makes you feel you can die in peace, such as a very pleasant memory to take to the afterlife.

That was the best compliment ever. 

It was incredibly respectful to see the monks’ ability to invite the thousands of women and men of all ages who were gathered there to a different dimension, and to return to reality and land their bodies and minds firmly at the end of the performance. The chanting has the meaning of a requiescat, and it is a prayer for the repose of a dead person. It was an experience that allowed us to feel closer to that afterlife world. I also believe it was a stage set to expand human cognition. You could get a glimpse of the boundary between this world and the other world, melting together at times, which would make you feel a bit strange. However, it was a spatial art that made you feel humble and positive after all.

Technically speaking, this performance was about 30 minutes long, but it was impossible to follow the fixed scale every time, and we presented improvisational fragments at key points. Therefore, we implemented some necessary functions in the VJ system built with a real-time rendering engine as the basis, such as 3D projection mapping, live operation on the timeline, or interaction with the lasers.

Although we had a few months to produce the performance, we only had one rehearsal at the place. The total number of monks who participated was about 100, and the pre-rehearsal with them was also only once, which was a hard condition. 

In order to make it happen even under such restrictions, we started visualising it with our own simulator at an early stage, and repeated the virtual run-through many times to make the necessary adjustments in advance.

I would say this project was a big step for COSMIC LAB towards establishing a live visual system.

Audiovisual City: When I met you online and we had our first chat regarding your work you mentioned you would like to keep growing internationally, too. How would you say you get inspired by other cultures, and how would you like to integrate it in your work?

Cosmic Lab: I am interested in sharing experiences that are born beyond the language barrier. COSMICLAB also has members with a cultural background that isn’t rooted in Japan, making it difficult to communicate with each other at times but we are enjoying this situation. The process of sharing concepts and images using non verbal means is dynamic. In fact, the Buddhist chanting at the Koyasan Anniversary was uttered in Sanskrit, and it was extremely mesmerizing despite the fact that many of us as modern Japanese could not understand the language at all.

It is actually very fresh to see that the reaction to our work varies from culture to culture. Quasar was presented in Kazakhstan and Reunion Island, but in the end, a scene that went beyond the image and concept of the creator appeared. I think the scale of QUASAR’s potential was expanded especially in Reunion Island, where there is a Creole culture.

We participated in Greek ADAF, which was an online event, so we would like to go there someday. I think Quasar is a piece of work that changes and grows with the reaction of the land and people that it interacts with.

AVC: What are you working on at the moment? Can you give us a preview of what we will see from you this year?

CL: Under the influence of the COVID-19 situation, at COSMIC LAB we are speeding up the process of developing the XR (Expanded Reality) Live System “Anti Matter” in order to explore how communities in this era should be. We aim to represent the area where the visible and invisible worlds are mixed.

COSMIC LAB will host a XR audiovisual showcase event on 7th February 2021 using this XR Live system, with the support of the grant we have received from the Agency of Cultural Affairs*. There will be a live stream from the augmented reality space that will be generated in the underground sanctuary of Osaka. The lineup includes QUASAR’s new XR performance, Japan’s leading artist EYE (BOREDOMS), and BackSpace Tokyo’s audiovisual showcase.
*a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology set up to promote Japanese arts and culture.

On the 22nd of January, we will be presenting an evolved version of the live paint showcase with DOPPEL at an art festival in Okinawa. It will be a virtual production and the platform that will be used for the online streaming has not been confirmed yet but please do check it out!

One of the orientations that COSMIC LAB’s works share is accessing and deciphering the memories and deep layers hidden in a particular place / land, and rebooting and revealing it by the fusion of art and technology.

We have two projects that we are currently working on following this idea:

One of them is a light and sound installation at a mysterious shrine where the torii gates* meet the stunning views of the Sea of Japan, in Yamaguchi/Motonosumi. It is planned to be open to the public in April.
*A traditional Japanese gate that is usually found at the entrance of a Shinto shrine.

The second one is a project set in Daishoin in Hiroshima / Miyajima, a temple whose deity is the Misen mountain (the sacred place of Shugendo), and keeps protecting the “fire that never goes out” that has been burning continuously for 1200 years. It will be a session with a musician who works with the inaudible, and we are planning an exhibition and online presentation around February.

Thank you! Finally, COSMIC LAB have a message to all readers of audiovisual culture… 

Please feel free to contact us if you are interested, let’s exchange information and chat! There are many experimental VJs and a big AV culture in Japan as well. Check out the activities of COSMIC LAB!

Thank you very much.

All images are courtesy of Cosmic Lab
Translation from Japanese to English by Sumire Moncholi

Original in Japanese 日本語

Audiovisual City: お時間ありがとうございます！

まずはCosmic Labの始まり、最近の活躍など自己紹介をお願いします。

Cosmic Lab: 僕（VJ Colo Muller）が発起人となって立ち上げた、未知なるオーディオ・ヴィジュアルの体験を通じて、認知の拡張を追及するラボラトリーです。源流には大阪のアンダーグラウンドカルチャーでの活動が存在します。

独自に開発を続けているライブヴィジュアルシステムとそれを駆使したコンテンツやライブパフォーマンスをコアにしながら、アート作品の制作や、企業・地域などのブランディング、ライブエンターテイメント業界に関わるプロジェクトを手掛けています。

特に最近は、COSMIC LAB XR Live Systemの開発を加速させて、この時代の新たなライブ体験の創出を試みています。

AVC:「映像」と「音」を同時に奏でる次世代の楽器、QUASAR。直感的にクリエイティブなオーディオビジュアルが生み出せると言う可能性にとても興味を持ちました。QUASAR のアイディアはどのようにして生まれ、デザインや創作を考える時の創造性について聞きたいです。

CL: VHSやLaserDiscを用いてVJを始めた時代からずっと「映像」を音楽的かつ即興的にプレイしたいという願望があります。９８年頃にN.Yで遭遇したEBN（Emergency Broadcasting Network）の斬新過ぎるA/Vライブに衝撃を受け、その数年後、EBNの影響を色濃く受けた COLD CUT（Timberなどが代表曲）のA/Vライブを日本で体験したのが決定打でした。彼らは、HIPHOPのサンプリング手法をいち早くA/Vまで拡張させたように思います。

その流れに呼応する形で、日本で独自にA/Vパフォーマンスを進化させたHifanaやKireekたちとの邂逅は、QUASAR誕生の大きなきっかけとなりました。特に、Locked GrooveをコンセプトにしたHifanaの「SkiplessLoop」という楽曲や、ターンテーブリストが使うマーキングテープはロジック面でも大いなるインスピレーションになりました。Locked Grooveだとループの長さは、33rpmの場合、BPM133で4拍、つまり一周が一小節になります。その仕組みを使って、サンプリングしたワンショットやループの映像でシーケンスを構成していけば、どんな世界が生まれるんだろうと。そこからQUASARのプロトタイピングが始まり、今に至ります。

<Quasar映像リンク>

次に、Quasarの持つ創造性についてですが、日本の沖縄地方の方言で「ちゃんぷるー」という言葉があり、インドネシアの言葉でも似た響きを持つ「チャンプール」という言葉があります。意味は同じ「混ぜ合わす」というものです。これが何の話かというと、全く別々で一見繋がりが無いような事柄にも相似律が存在し、それらを並べてみると、それまで見えてこなった輪郭や全体像を発見できることがあります。Quasarを使って様々な音とイメージの断片を、直感的かつ視覚的に異種交配していくことで、偶然新たなグルーブが誕生したり、得体の知れない祝祭空間が訪れることがあります。それはデジタルワールドならではの自由度の高さがもたらす、未来的でプリミティブな感覚だと思います。

AVC: 2003年、バルセロナで発表されたReactable machineとは何か関係してますか？インスピレーションを得たのでしょうか？ 

CL: Quasar以前にCosmicLabが取り組んだ「SpaceEcho」というインスタレーションで制作したデバイスでは「reacTIVision」の知見を大いに活用させて貰いました。

そのインスタレーションは、１３００年近く前に創られた円形古墳に３６０度全方位プロジェクションマッピングをして、そのデバイスで音と映像を変化させ続け、古の世界に想いを馳せるというものでした。

AVC: 今後QUASARはどのようにして使われて創造性を伸ばして行けると思っていますか？

CL: 様々な文化圏を訪れ、そこに住む人々特有の音や踊り、その場所の自然・環境音等のフィールドレコーディングをして、現地のアーティストとのコラボレーションも重ねていきたいです。QUASARの世界の中で異種交配のセッションは続けられ、独自に進化するA/V祝祭空間を創造したいです。

今は２台しか存在しないのですが、デザイン次第では、誰もが遊べるような環境やゲーム的なものとしてリリースしても面白いだろうなと思います。

AVC: COSMIC LABのプロジェクトには様々な文化の混ざりや実験的な遊び心があるような気がします。たとえば、Magnetic ではヒップホップカルチャーの影響。高野山の1200年の光では現代オーディオビジュアルが日本伝統文化・仏教と混じり合わせてあります。

これだけ幅広く違うカルチャーやアートを使いながら、うまく統一したプロジェクトを創り出す方法は？

CL: VJとしてのキャリアの中で、異なるユースカルチャーやコミュニティを横断する機会に恵まれました。ある意味で部外者である表現者として、その場でコミットすべきコアと個人的関心が重なる感覚や表現はどこにあるのか、というのを瞬間的に探り当てる作業の連続でした。個人的関心を究めることは、常識に囚われずに、異なるコンセプトを新たに統合していくプロセスで大事なことだと思います。

AVC: Magnetic ではどう言った目的でプロジェクションマッピングをライブグラフィティに重ねたのでしょうか？その芸術概念とは？

CL:ライブペイントデュオのDoppelとは、以前から、リアルタイムな映像表現とライブペイント、そして、DJ・ターンテーブリストが三位一体となった即興性の高いショウケースの確立を目指してきました。壁画の完成までのタイムスケールやシーケンスをプロジェクションマッピングで制御することで、そのプロセス自体を音楽的なパフォーマンスとして構築しました。

AVC: 高野山1200年の光ではどのようにして声明・映像・光をうまく取り入れたパフォーマンスを創り上げる事ができましたか？

CL: このプロジェクトでCOSMIC LABが与えられたミッションは声明の視覚化に他ならないのですが、その空間でどのような現象が起きて、居合わせた人々がどのような体験を共有するのかを何度もイメージしました。

本番は想像を遥かに超えたアメージングな現実が目の前に現れました。人生の中でもそう何度も遭遇したことのない、瞑想的で深遠なダンスフロアを彷彿させました。尚且つそこでは、限られた世代だけではなく、80歳は超えてそうなお年寄りから小さな子供まで、非常に多種多様な人々が集まり体験を共有出来ました。日本語に「冥途の土産」という言葉があるのですが、公演後に老夫婦が近づいてきて「ありがとう、いい冥途の土産になったわ。」と言って貰えたのは史上最高の賛辞でした。

そこに集まった何千人もの老若男女を異次元へと誘い、そして公演の最後には現実に帰還させてしっかりと身も心も着地させる僧侶の力量には脱帽ものでした。声明は鎮魂の意味を持ち、この世を去った存在に祈りを捧げるものであり、ぐっとその世界の気配を身近に感じることが出来る体験でした。人間の認知を拡張させる為の舞台装置だったとも思います。ある意味、この世とあの世の境界線がグニャグニャに溶けた際どい瞬間も垣間見ましたけれども、最終的には、謙虚でポジティブな気持ちになれる空間芸術でした。

技術的な話に移ると、このパフォーマンスは約３０分の尺でしたが、毎回決まった尺通りに進行するのは不可能で、要所要所に即興的な演出を散りばめていました。その為、リアルタイムレンダリングエンジンをベースに構築したVJシステムに、３Dプロジェクションマッピング、タイムラインでのライブオペレーション、レーザーとのインタラクションなどの必要な機能を実装しました。

また、制作期間は数か月あったのですが、現地でのリハーサルは１回のみ、参加した僧侶の総勢は約１００名で、事前リハーサルも１回のみという厳しい条件下でした。

そういった制約においても実現可能にする為に、自作シュミレーターでいち早くヴィジュアライズし、何度もヴァーチャルランスルーを繰り返しながら想定される調整を事前に重ねました。

<高野山リンク>

このプロジェクトはCOSMIC LABのライブヴィジュアルシステム確立の大きな一歩となったと思います。

AVC: これから海外にも広めていきたいとお話ししましたが、海外の文化からどのようにインスピレーションをもらえてどのように取り入れたり混じり合っていきたいと思いますか？

CL: 言葉の壁を超えたところで生まれる体験の共有に興味があります。COSMICLABにも、日本とは違う文化的背景を持つメンバーが在籍していて、コミュニケーションに苦労することもありますが、その状況を楽しんでいます。非言語的にコンセプトやイメージを共有するプロセスはダイナミックです。実際、高野山での声明も全てサンスクリット語で唱えられて、現代の日本人である我々の多くは言語を理解出来ませんでしたが、物凄く揺さぶられるものがありました。

また、作品への反応が文化によって違うのもフレッシュです。Quasarはカザフスタンやリユニオン島で発表しましたが、最終的には作り手側のイメージやコンセプトを飛び越えた光景が現れました。特に、クレオール文化を持つリユニオン島ではQuasarの持つポテンシャルのスケールを拡げられたように思います。

ギリシャのADAFはOnlineでの発表でしたので、いずれは現地に行ってみたいですね。Quasarは訪れる土地や人々の反応と共に変化し成長する作品だと思っています。

AVC: 他に今までの活躍・これからの活動について聞かせていただけるお話しがありましたらお願いします。

CL: COVID-19の影響下、COSMIC LABは可視と不可視の世界が混ざる領域を表現し、この時代のコミュニティの在り方を模索する為に、 XR（エクスパンデッド・リアリティー） Live System “Anti Matter” の開発を加速させています。

最近のヴァーチャルプロダクション(映像)

2021年2月7日、文化庁の助成を受けて、COSMIC LABのXR Live Systemを駆使したXR オーディオ・ヴィジュアルのショウケースイベントを主催します。大阪のアンダーグラウンドの聖地で生成される拡張現実空間からライブストリーミングします。

QUASARの新作XRパフォーマンスや、日本を代表するアーティスト、EYE ( BOREDOMS ) 、BackSpaceTokyoのオーディオヴィジュアルショーケースというラインアップです。

1月22日には沖縄のアートフェスで、DOPPELとのライブペイントショーケースの進化版を行います。配信を前提としたヴァーチャルプロダクションになります。プラットフォーム等はまだ未定ですが是非ご覧下さい。

また、COSMIC LAB作品の特徴のひとつに、ある場所/土地に潜む記憶や深層にアクセスして解読し、アートとテクノロジーを融合した手法で、それをリブートし顕現させるという指向性があります。

その流れを汲む現在進行中のプロジェクトを2つご紹介します。

一つは、日本海の絶景に鳥居が立ち並ぶ神秘的な神社（山口・元乃隅）での光と音のインスタレーションです。来年4月には一般公開される予定です。

もう一つは、1200年間絶やすことなく燃え続ける「消えずの火」を守り、修験道の聖地・弥山を御神体とするお寺・大聖院（広島・宮島）を舞台としたプロジェクトです。不可聴領域を扱う音楽家とのセッションになります。来年2月頃に現地でのエキシビションとオンラインでの発表を予定しています。

世界のA/Vカルチャー読者へのメッセージがありましたらどうぞ！

もし興味持ってくれたら気軽に連絡ください。色々と情報交換などしましょう！

日本にもエクスペリメンタルなA/VカルチャーやVJが多く存在します。

COSMIC LABの活動も是非チェックしてみてください！

ありがとうございました。

The post COSMIC LAB interview appeared first on Audiovisualcity.

A special online edition offering an alternative way of enjoying the numerous audiovisual artists involved from all over the world.

The festival is organised by the same ensemble that has been delivering the massive audiovisual artists meeting LPM, since 2004. Flyer SRL, Linux Club and FLxER.net are also behind Live Cinema Festival, the boutique event we attended (physically!) back in September.

Fotonica features a wide focus on the audiovisual arts, embracing the many features and different expressions within the new media.

Not just performances and VJ sets but also installations, lectures and workshops. In each edition, Fotonica offers a space for both artistic networking and outreach of new audiences.

This year, the organizers have created a virtual environment and live streaming channel where it is possible to discover and to participate in a safe, interactive and innovative way.

The team behind Fotonica is very conscious of the importance of international partnerships. This year the festival is collaborating with Athens Digital Art Festival , Lunchmeat Festival, Cerrado Mapping Festival, Live Cinema Festival, Cairotronica, Bright Festival and System11.

Therefore the event does not offer simple entertainment. Fotonica is a valuable hub for all audiovisual artists to keep inspiring and being inspired. Even from their own studios.

Arte19VVR VR Rooms will host the digital exhibitions, VR Mapping, lecture and live AV performances through VJTelevision and Twitch. Workshops, lectures and talks will take place on Meet and Zoom.

A full array of digital and virtual platforms to maintain the audiovisual event alive, despite the second wave Covid restrictions.

Hence the organizers are sending an important message to the audience: arts have to adapt to any arising scenario leveraging the full creative potential of the latest technologies.

Read our report about Live Cinema Festival

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DJ Wallizz and DJ Nomi are both from Berlin. They have run monthly parties such as “The Afro House Experience”, “Bantu’s Diary” or “Black Paper”.

Hence they created a nightlife audiovisual experience that fusions rhythms of African clubs with sounds from the Berlin clubbing scene.

Expanding their vision, Wallizz and Cambel decided to start their own project called Freak de l’Afrique (The Monster of Africa). Recently the collective has started to incorporate audiovisual in their shows and performances.

Their aim is to bring the modern side of African music to the clubbing scene.

Through music, events and fashion they continuously spread a lifestyle inspired by Africa. It is forward-thinking, unexpected, sometimes provocative but above all positive!

Among their project we find “Wena – Jame”: A Journey through Afropolitan Musical Encounters. Wena translates into the pronoun “you”. It comes from the Zulu, one of many languages in South Africa. “Wena” is often used to ask someone to do something.

The project is the result of the combined effort among Freak de l’Afrique sound system, six dancers and a team of creative light and projection artist.

They all invite you (WENA!) to join them on a journey through the modern musical landscape of Africa and its diaspora.

This trip unravels as a 90-minute stage show with DJs, dancers and visual art with music from Ghana, Congo, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Angola, South Africa and many other places.

The collective wants to develop audiovisual content and projection mapping to make the experience more immersive.

They aim to connect the dancers, the music and the audiovisual content with an urban, modern and futuristic style rather than the traditional cliché one.

I think the concept is very powerful, not only for the magical moment they bring but also because of its originality.

I definitely look forward to seeing how it evolves! We will definitely keep an eye on them, as we always follow closely any type of audiovisual innovation.

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Barcelona is home town of many amazing audiovisual artists. It is not a coincidence our magazine has been founded there.

The city and its surroundings have always been very active since the early stages of the audiovisual culture.

Mapping World Lab features a 360° experimental approach to projection mapping.

During 10 years of activity, they have experimented with very different formats such as façade projections, indoor immersive shows, interactive installations, dance mapping and beyond.

MWL is active internationally both in the corporate and artistic world. Their main artistic mission is to transform venues and public spaces into immersive aesthetic environment through audiovisual content.

Vertical Dance Mapping

Very intriguing experiment where acrobatic vertical-dancers from SACUDE performed onto a façade projected upon by Mapping World Lab.

In order to deliver this complex show, the audiovisual artists have utilized motion graphics, VFX, 3D animations and a bespoke motion tracking tool to achieve precise synchronization with the dance’s movement.

An ambitious, gravity-defying mixed media show that didn’t fail in inspiring awe and wonder in the audience through the interaction among body, music and projection.

Interactive Projection Mapping

Based on the classic SIMON SAYS game, Mapping World Lab have developed this playful interactive audiovisual installations.

The audiovisual game has been projected onto the façade of the Sabadell council building, near Barcelona.

It consists of four large pushbuttons (green, yellow, red and blue) placed on the ground, so the player can interact with them.

The game sets a colour sequence, adding one extra colour at every turn. The player needs to repeat the exact pattern in the correct order.

The result? An highly engaging installation that connects strongly with the younger audience, by encouraging them to carry out a creative physical activity while the rest of the viewers enjoy the live show.

Body Mapping

Building facades have been utilized widely by projection mappers worldwide. What about using our own body as a live painting?

Mapping World Lab has been experimenting together with several performers to offer live audiovisual shows where the body in movement is the main expressive medium.

An alluring sensorial experience that captivates the audience and triggers an interesting dialogue between audiovisual artists and body performers.

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LISTEN TO THE 9TH EPISODE (MORE EPISODES BELOW) :

16.10.20 Terry Morgan

Borealis Festival of Light – is there anything this man can’t do?

The Podcast consists of a series of informal interviews to internationally renowned audiovisual artists.

When Gavin Borthwick from Light FX UK reached out to us, to pitch the idea of a podcast about projection mapping, we truly felt excited!

A podcast about audiovisual culture, it is something that has been hovering around our busy heads for a while. Therefore we didn’t hesitate to lend our expertise as media partners to something quite unique in the Audiovisual scene.

Light FX UK are releasing what we believe is a first for the UK. Colour My World Podcast is an intimate look into the exciting world of projection mapping. A nine episodes series with a further series in 2021.

Listen to content creators, festival organisers, software developers and even a wannabe stuntman.

Hear their stories, learn their insights and gain a new understanding of this creative community!

21.8.20 Tamas Vaspori

Maxin10sity – Broke a world record with their first ever job.

28.8.20 Joshua Ludzki  

Luma Projection Arts Festival – innovative Crowdfunder fighting back against Corona.

 

4.9.20 Wayne Sables 

 Wayne Sables Project – he should have been a stuntman.

11.9.20 Amin Rachad 

Ame In Love – dropped in at the deep end.

 18.9.20 George Berlin 

George Berlin Studios – the amazing dream of an 8 year old kid.

 

25.09.20 Istvan David

Limelight Projections – from slide projectors to world class stages.

02.10.20 Falcon’s Creative Group

Making the impossible, possible.

09.10 Theron Pray

Synesthesia – see that sound?

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DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 15 2020

The BBBank Newcomer Prize 2021 is the new international award for Projection Mapping.

The prize for projection mapping is the result of the collaboration among the ZKM, the KME Karlsruhe Marketing & Event Ltd. and the BBBank who is endowing the award.


The winning project will be showcased at the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe 2021, the projection mapping event organized by ZKM.

Open calls are essential for the audiovisual arts, especially for emerging audiovisual artists who are still finding their spot within the industry.

As paid gigs have been heavily reduced due to the ongoing Covid crisis, art awards have never been so welcomed by arts communities.

Too often audiovisual artists fall through the cracks of the awards guidelines. Being at the crossing point of diverse cultures and artistic disciplines, they lack a consistent and specific support within the arts industry.

That is why we are reducing the number of open calls we promote on our platform by concentrating on the paid awards that require no or very little entry fee.

So, let´s get down to the details of the BBBank Newcomer Prize 2021: the Grand Prize is 10,000€ plus production costs of up to 30,000€.

The production costs allowance covers all costs incurred during production, for example, fees and technical equipment.

Please note that winners of the Grand Prize agree that the work which was produced in the context of the competition will be shown exclusively at the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe in 2021 and in the following years.

Second prize and third prize are respectively 5,000€ and 2,000€.

Second and Third Winners grant to ZKM first right to make an offer for joint implementation of the storyboards in the context of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe.

Here go the content guidelines outlined by the organizers:

• The content should engage with the City of Karlruhe and/or the history of the city
• The content should engage with a future technology in the area of sustainability
• The content should engage with a technology/the history of technology that relates to Karlsruhe.

Here the technical requirements:

• A short biography of the artist(s) giving details of previous experience (max. 1000 characters including spaces).
• A portrait photo of the artist(s) (min. 500 x 500px).
• A description of the entry submitted (max. 2000 characters including spaces), a storyboard, and a 5-second media check clip (mandatory) plus image files (optional).
• The confirmed Granting of Rights (pdf)

APPLY ONLINE

PRODUCTION MODEL FILES

PRODUCTION GUIDELINES

GRANT OF RIGHTS

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VJ sets, projection mapping, art installations, video art… Kalma embodies the true spirit of the new media artist: restless and constantly striving for innovation and reinvention.

Sometimes we see the practice of VJing being dismissed similarly as it happens to the Djs: “It’s not really a form art as you are only mixing content.”

Well, Kalma couldn’t disagree more. By using using real-time generative visuals she developed a remarkable style that intrinsically connects audio and video.

Across a variety of formats her signature is undoubtedly the profound synaesthesia between the soundscape and her visual structure.

She dives deep into the ocean of sounds bringing up beats and synths to explicit them visually.

Kalma thoroughly investigates each sound elements she comes across with. She goes beyond the simple harmonic structure to investigate the emotional fields and subtexts expressed by the music.

A/V REFORMOTION

In this intriguing Audiovisual work, Kalma connects each sounds to a particular visual object creating a multi-symphonic orchestra formed by dress making machines.

The video is an excerpt of the projection mapping performance for the opening of Mmmrr, a clothes shop in Berlin.

MIMICOF + KALMA: Audiovisual Performance

Following the eclectic musical work by Mimicof, Kalma designs a mystical visual experience featuring a fine-drawn, slender aesthetic crescendo.

Midori hirano aka Mimicof is a Japanese sound artist based in Berlin. Her work is a mixture of modern digital sounds with subtle electronic processing and field recordings.

Kalma combines her work as audiovisual artist with her passion for teaching. Since 2010 she has been hosting and organising workshops around the topics of mapping and video in real time.

Her creative pedagogic and practical approach provides the best ground for people willing to immerse themselves in this field with endless creative possibilities.

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Flightgraf have been showcasing beautifully crafted projection mapping works, all around the globe since 2013. Their approach hinges upon the creative use of the core elements of audio-visualization.

RHYTHM AND LINE strikes immediately for its intrinsic aesthetic quality and the perfect synchronization between sounds and images.

The architectonical elements of the façade are constantly revealed and concealed again by the delicate luminous lines shooting across the space, during this mesmerizing audiovisual hide and seek.

The Altenburg building is the home of the Liszt School of Music Weimar. Like the symphonic poetry advocated by Franz Liszt in the 19th Century, the primary means of audiovisual expression are utilized to communicate extra-audiovisual content.

Not a pure formal exercise: a story is unravelling before our senses, through each sound element and its own visual doppelganger.

A story that is subjective to each one of us, in this virtuous expressive circle created among the architecture, the audiovisual language and the viewer.

As part of our series about the Genius Loci Weimar 2020 winners, our young journalist Marta Minguell asked Flightgraf about their creative process and how they approached the audiovisual event open call.

This artwork brings us back to the origins of experimental animation thanks to the conscious use of the root elements of visual creation.

1. Can you share with us your particular methodology to develop abstract content from a conceptual starting point?

Instead of unraveling Liszt as that famous super-elaborate musician, we started reading about his social and historical background.

Moreover we read up on the important influence he exerted on the next generation and society.  So we focused on on his qualities as an educator and researcher.

We became particularly interested about his passion for breaking out of fixed forms and given routines. 

Thus we tackled our artwork as one of his students. We attempted to convey the complexity of the chords, compositions and constructions he wanted to express in reverse and simplicity.

2. What kind of emotions and thoughts does this projection aim to evoke and which tools have you used?

We want the audience to experience the sound and pictures without following a pre-established harmony. 

We mainly used Cinema4D and After Effect for the production. We also used Cakewalk for music production.

When creating sound effects we use a lot of natural sounds and very often we actually record in various fields. We recorded and used a variety of natural sound effects from our last appearance in Genius Loci Weimar in 2017.

3. Can you share with us your creative approach when submitting an artwork to an open call?

There is no right answer, but we think that a competition is very similar to working for a client. You have to think about what the organizer wants above everything else.

This means that it’s not what you do, but what you don’t do that matters. GLW is a very special competition. It’s very artistic, very creative.

The jury is looking at all of us. We concentrated on showing our work as it is, without lying. In the end, we believe that the Genius Loci Weimar competition asks us questions about who we truly are.

Genius Loci Weimar Winners 2020 – Marstall Building

Genius Loci Weimar Winners 2020 – Goethe & Schiller Archiv

Genius Loci Weimar Winners 2019

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Animation artists Soheil Seraji and Nadira Madreimova have approached a building façade for the first time. The result? A uniquely intriguing piece of projection mapping!

The audiovisual narrative is complex and it requires more than one take to be truly understood.

Nevertheless the stunning aesthetic and elegant storytelling have an immediate impact on the spectator.

The conversation between east and west is explored by leveraging the cultural differences in the sound and visual expressions. A powerful immersive narrative takes us by hand on this wonderful oneiric journey.

I believe sometimes projection mappers can get a bit sidetracked by the spectacle and the technical realization. That is why is so inspiring to have a fresh take from “outsiders”. Something that Genius Loci Weimar knows really well.

As part of our series about the Genius Loci Weimar 2020 winners, our young journalist Marta Minguell asked the creators about their creative process and how they approached the audiovisual event open call.

1. Can you give us insights about your creative process to build the visual narrative, and how the sound is conceptually connected to the images?

Goethe had a special relationship with the east, in particular with the most prominent Persian poet, Hafiz. We are from the east, so we decided to work on the Goethe Und Schiller Archiv building.

We started to read Goethe’s poems thoroughly and…. wow! He speaks about something we live everyday! So the journey began for us. We found out that there is a close relationship between his thoughts and our culture, our background.

We understood that we could easily make our visual world based on his poems. Therefore we decided to use the concept of “journey to east” for the artwork, which was explicited in Goethe’s poems. As you can gauge from the first verses of West-östlicher Divan.

We are eastern artists so we know the way that east has been represented to the west world. Mainly from a biased and unrealistic point of view.

So, we understood that the journey should represent east as it is and how we live it, not as it has been represented.

Goethe had a realistic view of the east and paid tribute to it, in spite of being from the west.

Hence we felt Goethe could be the point of unity between east and west. We had to build a perspective that depicted a realistic east and, at the same time, as it is expressed by a western man.

We paid our tribute to Goethe and his most important book and started the “west-east conversation”. We decided to portray a journey to the conceptual east, somehow a dreamy journey.

Therefore we avoided overused cliché and we tried to show the eastern soul through a video lead by a western poet.

Then we struck up a conversation between west and east. We depicted the calmness, softness, elegance and pleasance of east through movements and connections between forms.

As you can see, there is no cut between the scenes and shots, everything is part of a continuous flow. Everything is in a calm and pleasant state.

At the same time we didn’t represent any form or scenario unfamiliar to our western audience.

He/she hears Goethe’s poem in an eastern environment simultaneously watching some familiar objects and forms like the train, the lighthouse and the car. In the overview, she/ he encounters the flowing concept and spirit of the east.

In addition, we thought about the different tasks we had to carry out for this project, being our first mapping projection.

We asked ourselves: what if we consider the building as a screen that is different from all the screens we had till now? So we decided to activate the volume of the building and started to consider the different architectural features as a tool for creativity.

We followed the conversation in music too. For a deeper perception of the visual image, we used the sound represented by voice, music and noises of natural objects. 

Projection mapping usually only uses music and noise.  We found a more original solution: we made the image more visible with the help of a voice that recites Goethe’s verses. 

Inspired by Goethe’s and eastern poetry, someone dreams of visiting the East where life is simple and wise. 

Music and visual images are not tied to specific frames.  We didn’t try to show the eastern lands, but the true concept of the east. 

Our task is to evoke emotional, figurative and spatial sensations of the concept of the East through the music of Sepehr Seraji. Inspired by western classical composers, we knew that would be familiar to our audience.

2. Can you tell us about the challenges and creative opportunities of working with projection mapping, coming from an animation background?

[Soheil Seraji] That’s a really good question! I have worked with this painting-like animation style over the last few years.

What I find interesting about this particular style is the depiction of figurative, realistic pictures and concepts in a generalized and abstract point of view.

For example, you can recognize the touches of brush but simultaneously you can see the sea wave illustrated by the brush.

Projection mapping allows us to show our point of view very explicitly because of the size of the building façade.

The coexistence between figurative and abstract of this animation style can be expressed and emphasized through the projection mapping.

As we explained above, another creative opportunity in this project in relation to my animation background was to consider the building as a screen.

I thought what can I do with this new and different type of screen? I can consider the building as a sketching notebook in front of me. Hence I started to freely sketching on it.

Finally I realized that I can activate different aspects and volumes of the building. I have set the shots and forms according to these aspects of the building, like the windows and columns.

Of course, there are challenges and limits, like the special aspect ratio for the video, the huge number of frames and layers to manage for an appropriate representation.

It is clear that these problems are not important at all in this project, since we have a limitless creative environment in front of us!  

3. Can you share with us your creative approach when submitting an artwork to an open call?

Yes, of course! It is not as simple as taking a fixed approach to every festival and event.

We prepare different projects for different types of events and our approach changes according to the type of event.

For example, lots of film and animation festivals accept diverse films in style, length and subject. The works we submit to these events are based on a personal idea that don’t pay attention to the uniqueness of the festival and its subject.

Another kind of festivals are the video and art festivals. When submitting to the events if our works are not matching the open call we start working on a new project.

Each project is based on our previously brainstormed ideas (and of course, we have an “ideas bank”!). We then grow the idea in a way that fits the open call’s guidelines.

What we have done for Genius loci Weimar is a totally different approach. As we haven’t done anything like this before!

We started our project from scratch, in order to create a truly original artwork from the first concept, with no preconceptions based on previous ideas.

Eventually, the approach depends on the conditions of the festival and the time we have to prepare our work to meet the deadline.

In this case the COVID outbreak helped us a lot! The day we found out about the event it was literally the deadline day! Fortunately, Genius Loci Weimar extended the deadline due to the pandemic.

Genius Loci Weimar Winners 2020 – Marstall Building

Genius Loci Weimar Winners 2019

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The festival has been founded by a group of VJs with the goal of outreaching new audiences and promoting collaboration among audiovisual artists.

As you know we are always happy to add a new pinpoint on the Audiovisual map we have been building since 2011. Especially when it comes from a country we haven’t heard in a while from.

Aavistus Festival is the result of the joint effort of local audiovisual artists and event producers to endorse VJing as an independent art form.

Artists need events to showcase their work and for professional networking. As any ground-breaking form of art, the beginnings are tough due to the lack of dedicated events.

Vjing and audiovisual art are often misinterpreted as forms of entertainment to complement electronic music.

It is true that VJing especially, share the same breeding ground as electronic music. Nevertheless it quickly took its spot as an independent, varied and complex art form.

Aavistus Festival responds to the specific needs of the local artistic scene bringing something fresh in Helsinki and truly ambitious, considering the overall Covid scenario and restrictions to public events.

The programme includes AV live performances, VJ sets, audiovisual installations, projection mapping, workshop and panel discussions.

It will take place in multiple locations in Helsinki. Aavistus Festival organisers aim for the event to become a a truly international festival, when travel restrictions don’t stop us anymore.

From Audiovisual City all the best of luck to this new kid on the audiovisual events block!

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