If you’re still in the midst of the celebrations of Les Festes de la Mercè like us, you will have scheduled in your agenda one of the most anticipated events in the program: video mapping projections on the facade of the City Hall of Barcelona,
sure to be one of the biggest crowd-pullers of the festival. But what is video mapping?
Video mapping uses projection technology to convert irregularly shaped objects, such as the facade of the City Hall, into gigantic projection surfaces. By using specialized software, artists can create optical illusions, make movable static objects and add non-existent dimensions.
Although many believe that this visual art is relatively new in the world of performing arts, one of the first projections onto a non-flat surface dates back to 1969, when at the Opening of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland the singing faces of Grim Grinning Ghosts were projected onto busts of the actors. Since then, however, this technique has been increasingly refined and video mapping has been linked to electronic music, audio-visual experimentation and has become a multidisciplinary art combining projections with other arts like music, dance and film.
Barcelona is obviously not the only place where you can enjoy such projections. Aiming to stimulate and strengthen the choice of the city as a film set, Girona decided this year to launch its first International Festival of Mapping, and there are other international festivals like the Mapping Festival in Geneva that this year celebrated its 10th edition or Liveperformesmeeting in the Netherlands (http://liveperformersmeeting.net/) .
If you have never seen live video mapping, we encourage you to attend one of the four sessions in the Festes de la Mercè that take place Wednesday at Jaume I square. This year the theme is a love story between a building in Barcelona and a building in Stockholm, the guest city this year. That’s why the video mapping will be projected both onto the facade of the City Hall and in Arvfurstens Palace in Stockholm, headquarters of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The event promises to be a great experience!
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