ISE in February
BartKresa Studio’s new 360-degree projection-mapped sculpture is a monumental experience.
One of Bart Kresa’s early explorations into activating architecture with lighting did not involve projection mapping, or even projectors. In 2002, Kresa lit the windows in the Palace of Culture and Science, the tallest building in Warsaw, to create a 140-by-140-foot pixelated heart image for his piece, From Warsaw with Love. While Kresa had already been working with Pani projectors for over a decade, the departure in this piece illuminated Kresa’s passion for using lighting, design, and both high- and low-technology to create a unique experience in familiar places. Sviatovid, Kresa’s new 360-degree projection-mapped sculpture, has evolved from the work that Kresa and his studio have undertaken.
Light, Story and Design
For more than 20 years, BartKresa Studio has utilized light, story and design to create unparalleled projection experiences around the globe. Their world-class designers—with the help of high-powered projectors—transformed the massive façade of the Umaid Palace in Jodhpur, India into French Versailles and magical waterfalls; transported the Walt Disney Concert Hall façade from Los Angeles to the world of Game Of Thrones’ Westeros; and made the Space Shuttle Endeavour into an artifact in King Tut’s tomb. However, among these large private and corporate commissions, Kresa has continued developing unique and personal digital media, light-based fine art pieces.
In 2014, BartKresa Studio began exploring 360-degree projection-mapped sculptures with their piece, Shogyo Mujo. The 12-foot-tall skull was the large-scale realization of sculptor and collaborator Josh Harker’s signature design, Geodesica. BartKresa Studio developed a library of more than thirty interactive animations that transformed the skull into uncommon scenes that responded to music. Shogyo Mujo premiered at the Burning Man festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, and toured to the Adobe Max and SIGGRAPH tech conferences and the Life is Beautiful Festival in downtown Las Vegas. The piece is slated to become a flagship installation at Area 15 in Las Vegas, the 40-acre site near I-15 that will also be home to the first Meow Wolf arts attraction outside Santa Fe, NM when it opens later this year. As Kresa and his studio continued to develop sculptural new media art experiences, they determined that the next iteration would be a form designed specifically for projection mapping and fine art installations.
Sviatovid Sees All
The new projection-mapped sculpture, Sviatovid, harkens back to a familiar theme and form. Like From Warsaw with Love, Sviatovid is a monolithic monument to Polish culture. Inspired by both a ninth century Slavic deity and a medieval sculpture of the same name, Sviatovid is a 15-foot-tall faceted totem. The history of the deity and medieval statue of Sviatovid is the subject of debate among Polish historians, but BartKresa Studio took inspiration from the all-seeing nature of the figure. With four faces, Sviatovid was not omniscient, but could literally take in the world in an all-encompassing way. BartKresa Studio designed a library of interactive animations to be a reflection of Sviatovid’s distinct perspective and journey. Sviatovid represents both an artistic and technical evolution in Kresa’s work.
BartKresa Studio has employed technological advances in the development and realization of Sviatovid. The studio’s creative process includes all of the major design, animation, and 3D software products. However, BartKresa Studio incorporated 3D printing into their design process for the first time, creating a scale mock-up of the sculpture for testing with a Pico projector. This allowed them to adjust the sculpture and projection designs in cooperation with each other. The full-scale realization of Sviatovid utilizes four PT-RQ32K Panasonic laser projectors.
Kresa chose these projectors because they are small for the light output, and the laser light source makes them reliable enough to run 24 hours per day. He described the projectors as an upgrade, saying, “The Panasonic 4K projectors are so sharp that, when we started testing, we had to go back and enhance some of the designs to take advantage of that resolution.” In an effort to better understand and advance the connection between the quality of the projector and the projections, Panasonic dedicated a task team to work with and support BartKresa Studio on Sviatovid. A collaboration between a manufacturer and a design studio on a fine art project is a new approach to the growth of the projection medium. Because the projections and projection surface developed simultaneously, the use of new technology challenged and elevated the overall end product.
Slick Surfaces
In addition to designing the form of the sculpture to be an ideal canvas for projection mapping, BartKresa Studio designed Sviatovid for ease of transport and installation. While Shogyo Mujo was sculpted by hand, Sviatovid was molded and cast. The molding process allowed all of the definition that was designed into the original 3D model to be transferred directly to the sculpture. The fiberglass surface of Sviatovid has the finished quality of a race car or speed boat. The greater consistency in assembly allowed for more accuracy in assembly and, therefore, in the projections. BartKresa Studio employed Dataton Watchout for playback, as the full 3D alignment tool was the perfect complement to the precision of the sculpture. According to Kresa, Watchout 6 allowed him to be pixel-accurate in aligning. “If the positioning is done correctly, and the camera has the right point of view, then the calibration can be done very easily,” he says. The combination of the well-engineered sculpture fabrication, with the Panasonic projectors and Watchout media server has allowed for efficient installation, and reliable shows around the clock.
Sviatovid premiered at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) Amsterdam in Feb. 2019, the largest AV/systems integration tradeshow in the world. Stationed at the entrance to the RAI convention center, Sviatovid greeted approximately 100,000 ISE attendees. Following the world premiere, Sviatovid traveled to Lublin, Poland, for an exhibition at the Centrum Spotkania Kultur (The Centre for the Meeting of Cultures). The Centrum Spotkania Kultur, a unique cultural and educational institution that brings one-of-a-kind art to Europe, is also the home of the new BartKresa Academy of Projection Design. With the presentation of Sviatovid in Poland, Kresa brings his unique fine art full circle. From Warsaw with love, he has returned with high powered projectors, and an eye (or four eyes, in Sviatovid’s case) to the future of activating architecture, public spaces, and open minds with light and art.
The shows at ISE and Centrum Spotkania Kultur were the beginning of a global journey for Sviatovid. Audiences have flooded social media with images of the other-worldly sculpture, calling Sviatovid a “mesmerizing…world told by light and sound.” In keeping with its origin story, Sviatovid is on an intercontinental expedition to bring people together.
To follow Sviatovid’s journey, and book an exhibition, visit www.sviatovid.com.
