This article was first published in the June 2016 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
The Empire State Building, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, The Vatican: Obscura Digital turns landmarks into canvases for art and activism on an epic scale. "We're using an interesting medium in a unique way - to get massive impact," says Chris Lejeune, CEO and co-founder of the San Francisco-based design company. Founded in 2000 by Lejeune and creative director Travis Threlkel, Obscura has pioneered projection mapping for years, creating attention-grabbing projects for companies such as Nike, Google and Nasa.
Recently, it's pivoted into using the technique for political messaging, particularly around climate change. The Empire State project, Projecting Change, was a partnership with the film-maker Louie Psihoyos for his film Racing Extinction. "There's a particular statement behind using a building like the Empire State as it pertains to capitalism and the environment," says Lejeune. "It's not so much about the medium, as what the message is." The piece took two years of planning and negotiations. "We wouldn't take no for an answer."
Creating such massive artworks requires an equally large-scale set-up: Projecting Changetook 40 carefully positioned 20,000-lumen projectors to create a 33-storey 5K image.
"We create a lot of hardware and software innovation," says Lejeune. It also requires unique access - for example, in December 2015, convincing the archbishop of Rome to let Obscura's team inside the Vatican.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
