INTERNATIONAL VIDEO MAPPING CONTESTS : opportunity, experimentation and discovery.

International projection mapping contests are real platforms for develop art in the mapping sector. Since 2018, we shared informations on facebook page for digital artists from all around the world : FACEBOOK GROUP. I participated in these projection mapping contests as a competing artist since 2015, and I am constantly looking the evolution of projection mapping competition on an international scale.

CONCEPT

These contests in the form of calls for projects are real platforms for meetings and development of the projection mapping sector. Indeed, they confront different styles through original proposals from competitors, who come from all over the world and who impregnate their creation with their respective cultures. They thus provide opportunities for artistic experimentation and risk-taking where everyone stands out for their expressiveness and hopes to win the prizes. With these festivals, each year more and more numerous, artists only have the creative aspect to develop. Indeed, the organizer takes care of the technical installation, distribution and preparation of the files necessary to create the projection mapping on the building, including the 3D model and reference photos. These international festivals feature a network of calls throughout the year. The first one was organized by Visualpower and Bordos Artworks. One of the oldest, which still exist, are the Circle of Light in Russia (est. 2011), the 1-Minute Projection Mapping in Japan and the Genius Loci Weimar in Germany (est. 2012). Their organizers are now claiming to receive more than 150 proposals each from more than 30 nations.

PLATFORMS OF CREATIVE FREEDOM

These festivals offer a real artistic variety because the projects, sometimes submitted to a theme, use various aesthetics and creative techniques. Many festivals dedicated to the digital arts fully play this role as sponsors of works, producers and presenters. Indeed, these structures, true platforms for presenting the work of artists, encourage them and allow some of them to emerge. These festivals offer a real artistic variety because they select several screenings using different creative techniques and cultural influences from several continents. These contests thus become meeting places for international artists from diverse backgrounds.

These projects are also beneficial to the spectators since during the same evening, the public can compare different visual and sound artistic proposals. By inviting spectators to vote and decide between artists, these festivals also educate the public, which is becoming more and more demanding. The public can also, like a museum, confront several styles and narratives on the same facade.

The artistic diversity of the proposals makes each contest a real ephemeral open-air museum. For example, at the Girona International Mapping Festival, FIMG, in 2015, there were about 30 projection mappings projected on four buildings in the city, representing more than two hours of artistic proposals. These festivals exist throughout the world and establish a network of calls for projects that are spread over the year. Unfortunately, some festivals are not sustainable and new ones are created every year. Some of these include the Circle of Light in Russia (since 2011), 1-minute Projection Mapping in Japan (since 2012), Genius Loci Weimar in Germany (since 2012), Video Mapping Contest in France (since 2014), IMAPP in Romania (since 2014), FIMG (2014–2016) and Luz y Vanguardias in Spain (since 2016) or Zsolnay Light Art in Hungary (since 2016).

REMUNERATION

The remuneration of artists is based on a price scale defined by the functioning of the contest. This can be a ranking of the first three projects, or a jury prize. Often, the public is also invited to vote for their favorite project.

While some festivals pay for artists, most do not have the means to bring them in. However, the presence of the contest participants during the screenings is a sign of real recognition of the work accomplished and provokes artistic and professional encounters. Finally, most festivals broadcast the screenings live and then upload a high-definition recording of the screenings to provide promotional material for each participant.

The best cash prizes that have been seen this year are those of the Luz y Vanguardias festival in Salamanca, Spain, with a first prize of 15 000€, or the major IMAPP contest, where ten projects by artists chosen by the jury have been awarded 10 000€ each. The festival also covered their transportation costs so that they could come and participate in the festival. The 1-Min Projection Mapping offers a first prize of 1 000 000 yen / 8 000€. The other festivals have price lists ranging from 500€ to 5 000€.

WHO ARE WE ?

To provide an overview of the motivations of each participant and their artistic profile, a questionnaire was put online in 2018. 21 of the group members responded, allowing the following analysis. Half of the artists surveyed work alone or in pairs with sound/visual and only 10% in teams of more than six people.

Two thirds responded that they participated in between two to three contests each year. One might think that large teams participate in more contest than artists working alone, teams having more staff to handle different projects. This is not true since four of the six participants in more than five contests per year work alone or in pairs. A large majority of our artists say they have won at least one prize in a contest in the past three years. This is due to the fact that several prizes are awarded at each contest, not to mention the audience prize awarded in addition.

The reasons for participation vary. Several artists emphasize the possibility of increasing their portfolio and obtaining visibility because the videos of the screenings are relayed on an international scale. Many participate out of passion for projection mapping creation because the buildings proposed by festivals are often prestigious and have interesting architectures to work on artistically. These contests also encourage meetings between professionals in the field and create common synergies. The wordschallenge, experience, artistic freedom, and opportunity often appear in the answers. Finally, the need to share this artistic practice with as many people as possible was also highlighted, emphasizing the fact that projection mapping is democratic and accessible to all since the screenings take place in the public space.

More than 50% of artists finance their creative period with money earned on other projects, such as VJing, commercial projects, other activities related or not to projection mapping, or with their own funds on their free time. This explains the high number of artists working alone since they do not need to pay a team to respond to these calls for projects. Only teams with more than five people respond that they can make a living from projection mapping, including commercial projects. Most artists do not live off it or complete it with an additional activity, such as that of multimedia artist, lighting technician, university professor, visual and sound creator for the theater.

A small majority of the artists questioned prefer an artistic freedom without a theme imposed on the contests. The others explain that the theme brings, despite different approaches and styles, a global link between the different projections.

It should be noted that the panel is composed mainly of European artists (Germany, Austria, Spain and France as well as from a large community in Eastern European countries such as Hungary and Romania), a third of Asian artists and finally a few representatives from Latin America, North America and the Middle East. There is a lack of African artists on the international scene, while there is a growth in both artists and newly created festivals in Latin America.

2019 DATA ANALYSIS

2019 looks pretty similar to 2018. 15 contests and 10 open calls about projection mapping were relayed on the group (against 19 and 15 than 2018). But, we see new kind of call : 3 fulldome open call announced (the new immersive drug) and 2 call to artists (with the LimeLigh Academy concept).

There is less contests proposed in 2019, because some festivals are postponed to 2020 (Boréalis), and others could not have new edition like SSA Mapping in Brazil, M3D festival in Italy or the nice Odessa Light festival in Ukraine. The video mapping sector is still precarious and sometimes festivals have to wait 2 years between each edition. But every year, there are some new festivals like : Skopje light art district in North Macedonia, Brillo contest in Italy or the George Town festival in Malaysia. Unfortunatly, there is no festival in Africa. In Latin America, it’s seem hard for them to perpetuating with the political instability (like in Brazil, Ecuador or Mexico).

Germany is one of the countries which hosts the most festivals (5) with Italy (4), but Japan (2 competitions) and the Eastern countries (Romania, Hungary, Ukraine) also have several annual competitions (and not the smalls ones !)

About winning and awarded artists, Italy had an impressive performance in 2019. Michele Pusceddu won the big contest IMAPP (and, before on the year, also the Zsolnay Light Art). IMAPP competition welcomed two more Italians with Antaless visual design, respectively winner of the 1min projection mapping 2018 and Marco Morgese, winner of the Luz y Vanguardias 2019. This festivals forming part of the International Video Mapping competition Winners League (with Kyiv Lights festival, Boréalis and Genius Loci Weimar) the new concept of the big IMAPP competition. DIES won the KYIV 2020’s contest and will already represent Italy during the 2020’s IMAPP. Chinese artists (with LiCheng, Rampages Production, SKGmedia), German teams (with ruestungsschmie.de, RESORB) et Mexican (with NullPixel, AVA animation) were also very present at the 2019 festivals.

Looking at the results of 15 contests held in 2018, we can see a strong presence of the winning European teams. There are five artists from Spain, four from Germany and four from Italy, three from France, 10 from Eastern Europe, Romania and Hungary mainly, and five from Asia, seven from the Americas including three from Mexico and three from Brazil; four from Russia and one from the Middle East.

It should be noted that festival audiences tend to give priority to nationals of their own country, which is true of other types of contest.

EXPECTATION FOR 2020

Spread over the year, projection mapping contests offer artistic opportunities accessible to all and promote experimentation, the discovery of new artists and the diversity of styles. However, most festivals agree that there is increasing competition with a multiplication of teams from all over the world. This contest is beneficial since it forces artists to innovate by proposing original concepts. Nevertheless, the increased difficulty of the contest points to the limit of this mode of participation. The economic model is still not perfect, but some festivals now offer better financial prize and extend the compensation to the 5 or 10 best works as Zsolnay Light Art (1 000€ for each finalist), VIDEO MAPPING CONTEST (6 000€ for each finalist). Indeed, to stand out, artists must spend time on their proposals and this is done, except for award winners or finalists, without financial return. Projection mapping contests are therefore limited by the contest system, which does not pay fair compensation for the work done by each competitor. Although festivals commission and directly finance artists to make unique works, if we want to move the practice of architectural projection mapping out of the spectacular event, we must urgently develop real platforms for exchange, production, distribution and creation on an international scale to make it evolve as an art in its own right.

#mapping #opencall #contest #digitalart #videomapping #mappingvideo

Some informations are based on a previous article published in the book Image Beyond the Screen