Interactive

Kalma’s VJ and 3D Mapping Workshops

Published

7 years ago

November 27, 2017

One our favorite questions for people who have been using VDMX is to ask them how they would show it to someone who has never used it before and we are especially excited to see how teachers are introducing the software in classrooms and workshops. Everyone learns best in a different way and it is always helpful for us to see new approaches to VJ techniques. Last week we were joined for a guest tutorial by Kalma who showed off an example of how to get started with VDMX and for this post we are excited to get more information about the artist behind the workshops.

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Kalma, visual artist working with video projections since 2007. I do light installations, mapping, vjing, interactive pieces, music videos and almost everything related with video in real time.

What hardware and software and other tools do you use?

My basic hardware equipment is a Macbookpro, a TASCAM soundcard, a bunch of MIDI controllers: 2 Nano Kontrols ( I prefer the version 1), 1 Nano PAD, a keyboard AKA LPK25, my beloved Behringer BCF2000… Also I have a DIY light sensor that I use to tranform light into sound. About software, depending on my necessities I use Madmapper, VDMX, Lumen ( a great video sinth ! ), Modul8, Quartz Composer…

What are some of your recent VJing and mapping projects?

At the moment I’m working in a video work for Kaltès & Nene H. that will release an EP under Eotrax label. I’m using a 3D Kinect to scan a human body and VDMX to apply different effects in real time. It’s dark, intense and very personal piece that is called Resist.

Also I’m developing my A/V installation Harmonic Waves. Until now it’s been shown as a prototype in galleries and festivals but the plan is to build it in a big scale, allowing the viewers to walk in between the huge geometric shapes.

My last project was premiered last month. I collaborated with DINA 13 a dance company from Cologne that work with people with disabilities ( and I learnt how much able they are! ) My work was to design the mapping on stage and perform live. I used Madmapper and VDMX and everything was incredibly smooth, even though I had 3 beamers playing HD content for the entire hour. Since then, I deeply love HAP codec 😉

Tell us about the workshops that you teach on VJ and 3D mapping techniques!

Beside my artistic career, I feel the necessity to share with others what I learn during my working processes. That’s why I do these workshops where people learn, not only how to create a patch in VDMX or a mapping project with Madmapper but also all the indispensable technical abilities to face their first gigs: how to compress their footage, create their own content, use live cameras and MIDI controllers, using projector calculator and face the more common technical problems.

I use a very pedagogic and practical approach to bring the attendants as much tools as possible to allow them to continue with the learning process after the workshop. Two important keywords when I’m teaching are: motivation and inspiration . If I’m able to impregnate them with this two concepts, I consider my work a success.

The challenge for me to give each one what they need. That’s why I don’t exceed the maximum of 10 attendants. In this way I can focus of each necessities, beginner or not so beginner and adapt my program to their level.

I think the workshops are the perfect playground for someone who wants to explore the possibilities of live video projections and visual scenography using real time rendering and video mapping.

Learning VDMX in Kalma’s workshops

Via VDMX

AV Projects

Cutting-edge projections by teamLab at Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Published

4 years ago

August 6, 2021

FrontFX Magazine

The pandemic-delayed expansion features an interactive exhibition by the Japanese contemporary art collective that was designed to disorient

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco opened its pandemic-delayed $38m expansion by the architect Kulapat Yantrasast at 23 July with Continuity, a new immersive exhibition by the Japanese art collective teamLab. During an early walkthrough The Art Newspaper took of the addition, the installation’s visuals were being tweaked on a laptop by Adam Booth, the collective’s art director of computer graphics. Around the gallery, projections of flowers and butterflies were falling and flying. When told the experience was all a bit disorienting, Booth said with a soft smile, “That’s the idea.”

The museum’s director Jay Xu saw teamLab’s work during a visit to Japan about seven years ago, and thought it would be an ideal way to launch the museum building’s new addition. The Asian Art Museum became the first American institution to acquire a work by teamLab, according to Robert Mintz, the museum’s deputy director for art and programs, and it now owns two, Cold Life and Life Survives by the Power of Life. The solo show stitches together about ten different works, with projections on the gallery walls and floors. Some components are interactive, such as digital flowers growing around your feet.

This all fits into Yantrasast’s mission for the expansion, which he sees as “a dynamic balance of the rejuvenation of the historic Public Library building with the programs and activities of the core collection, as well as the addition of contemporary art and technological experiences in the museum,” he says. The addition adds a total of 15,000 sq ft of space across two levels. The main gallery, the Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Pavilion, is one large column-free 8,500 sq ft space meant to offer maximum flexibility for exhibitions and programming. On top of that is the East West Bank Art Terrace, a rooftop sculpture garden currently featuring Ai Weiwei’s Fountain of Light.

Audiences are clearly hungry for enhanced art experiences, and the museum is in competition with more commercial art shows in the city. Part of a national craze, The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit San Francisco at the event space SVN West has been open since 18 March, with tickets priced at $39.99 to $49.99, and has been extended through 19 September “by popular demand”.

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition opens in September at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, promising up-close looks of the Vatican masterpiece through photographic enlargements, with tickets starting at $21 for adults. And Monet by the Water kicks off its tour in San Francisco in December at a currently “secret” venue.

But Mintz believes that the teamLab show offers more value, with admission just $5 over the regular $10-$15 entry to the museum. His calculations might be right: at the beginning of the week, the museum had already sold more than 17,000 tickets for the special exhibition, with the first eight days completely booked.

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