Public Projection: Projection as a Tool for Expression and Communication in Public Space

The class will focus on development of original projection projects that can inspire and facilitate individual and group expression and cultural communication in the public space.

In their projects students may consider (but not be limited to) experimenting with two kinds of projections:
· Projections-animations that engage specific architectural and sculptural urban sites,
· Wearable, portable or mobile projections that engage bodily performance in public space.

Students will learn cultural, technical and ergonomical aspects of such projects.

The projects may require social research, and invite creative use of software and hardware and physical modeling.

Students will be encouraged to experiment with video projectors, micro-projectors in connection with other media devices, such as smart phones, speakers, monitors, sensors, and other input and output components and the use of unconventional materials as projection “ screens”.

The class meetings will include experimentations, presentations readings, and discussions, as well as visits to research groups that work on prosthetics, projections and media installations at Harvard, MIT’s Media Lab and Boston area.

The class will benefit from the workshops by visiting lecturer Jeff Granz a director of Materials and Methods projection company, and a creative director of this year’s Illuminus, the Boston’s Nuit Blanche, a public arts festival that will take place on October 25 (engaging several blocks of the South End with 3-D projections and performances). The students will receive access to the festival’s sites to learn the production and postproduction aspects of media based architectural animations and performances.

Illuminus, Boston’s First Nuit Blanche, Will Light Up SoWa on October 25