Loop Mass

The Loop Mass was a massively collaborative video installation project created by myself, acting as artistic director for the Austin Museum of Digital Art, and Ryan Padgett, creative director of Captive. We conceived of a large suspended sculpture of projection-mapped objects, with content created by our combined network of animator and filmmaker friends from around the U.S., (and Canada). Each composer submitted a brief set of instructions for the visual artists assigned to their piece. This way, we had new original content created specifically for each performance, with visuals that served as its thematic complement. Each visual artist created, at least, 4 loops, which were mapped onto a network of framed spandex screens.

The installation was completed over the course of a week with the help of volunteers, who worked well into the evening, after getting off from work. We used close to 70 picture frames, most of which were sourced from the Goodwill Blue Hanger outlet store. Most of the composers chose to send Ryan and I (who were triggering the clips using Touch Designer and Resolume Arena), MIDI signals in order to more closely synchronize the content. The video for Zac Traeger’s piece in particular, was controlled almost exclusively from his machine (via Ableton Live).