In September 2021, Trefoil awarded £3,000 to Articulate Cultural Trust to facilitate their Lightbulb Moment project.
Lightbulb Moment was a series of projection mapping workshops with a digital visual artist who supported 11 young people to participate.
Projection mapping is a projection technique whereby an image is displayed onto a 3D object.
The first workshops introduced the participants to the basics of projection mapping, and they learnt about the core tools used to produce visuals for projected surfaces and screens. It was an immersive workshop and participants created cube structures to subsequently map out and scale with Resolume software package. Then, there was the opportunity to get creative as well as practical with GIFs and animations added to the mix so the young people could explore live effects such as speed, colour, and distortion.
“We felt excited that each participant emerged with a unique artwork, having used a wide range of approaches and techniques in achieving each piece.”
The workshops that followed engaged the young people in discussions about projection mapping in public spaces and asked them to think about the potential implications of casting a message of solidarity or protest into a public space.
The white cubes created by the participants were quickly re-imagined as a building and the group worked as a team to prepare a message and create a collaborative artwork to be projected onto it. The workshops took place shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the under-18s group was united in producing a message of solidarity with Ukraine for their projection mapping task.
The artworks produced by the young people during the workshop series were then showcased in an outdoor installation projection at The Pipe Factory exhibition on 2 April 2022.
The artwork was positively engaged with by passers-by, especially the 150+ guests exiting a concert at St Luke’s and the Winged Ox at 10.30pm, making the projection event both a colourful and impactful experience. Many stopped to consider the projection art exhibition, ask questions about the process and take photos of artworks on display.
“The response I got from members of the public was very genuine and that made me happy knowing that people took a real interest in the project that we had completed over the few weeks prior to the event at The Pipe Factory. Not only an interest in Articulate, but a lot of them were left in awe of the work they had seen created by the young people that Articulate worked with.”
Trefoil is delighted that the grant contributed towards assisting the participants of the Lightbulb Moment project to develop their artistic skills and share their creativity through a large-scale and very public exhibition.