Guerilla Sculptural Visuals: An Intervention with Sol LeWitt, a Backpack Projector

Guerilla Sculptural Visuals: An Intervention with Sol LeWitt, a Backpack Projector:re-blog from Create Digital Motion

Art Intervention: Sol LeWitt Structures 1965-2006. City Hall Pak, NYC. from Integrated Visions Productions on Vimeo.


Buckle up and project: that was the mission of a group of art “interventionists”, firing guerilla projections at the public installation of artist Sol LeWitt in Manhattan’s City Hall Park. The weapon of choice itself is one of interest: a self-powered mobile projection rig means live visuals can appear anywhere.

The production team describes the project:

Wikipedia defines an art intervention as ‘an interaction with a previously existing artwork, audience or venue/space.’ Integrated Visions Productions and National Media Services approached the Sol LeWitt exhibition ‘Structures’ in New York’s City Hall Park (sollewitt.publicartfund.org​) with this concept in mind. Utilizing one of NMS’s ProjectionMan self-powered mobile projection units to redefine the idea of guerilla videomapping, the IVP/NMS team was able to line up the template and accurately videomap the three sculptures seen in this video with about 5 minutes of on-site prep per piece. The results are stunning; the sculptures come, literally, to life. [Ed.: Uh -- literally, they come to life? That's terrifying. -PK]

Creative Team

Producer: Brian Blessinger

Animation and Art Direction: Michelle Dodson, Bryan Dodson

Soundtrack: Crawwwl by Big Friendly Giant [on SoundCloud]

ProjectionMan by

National Media Services Inc

and

BlueBlast Media

ProjectionMan operated by Tyrone Tanous

I asked producer Brian Blessinger to tell us more about the backpack projection setup, pictured below:

As far as the ProjectionMan rig, it was designed by our logistics partners at BlueBlast Media and National Media Services. It’s battery-powered and is designed to be fully mobile. The rig is built as a suit that fits around the operator. The 12 volt battery is worn like a backpack. Each battery lasts about an hour before it has to be swapped out. It supports a 2500-lumen HD projector.

You’d think a man with a projector on his back would look happier, but… Photo courtesy Brian Blessinger.