Montreal's 1st video-mapping festival kicks off in Mile End
MAPP_MTL opens Thursday night, drawing new breed of artists from all corners of world
Montreal is known for many things, but some may not know it's also a hub for video mapping.
The medium is all about reinventing spaces around a city, using video projections. It blends architecture, audiovisual arts and computer technology into many of the installations.
Mapping is becoming so popular, it now has its own festival.
The first international mapping festival, called MAPP_MTL kicks off Thursday night in the city's Mile-End and Mile-Ex neighbourhoods.
Festival co-founder Thien Vu Dang says he hopes MAPP_MTL sheds light on this art form, which he says is so much more than projections on buildings.
"We want to gather the artists and actors of that field and propose new ideas to push forward that medium," said Vu Dang.
"We want to show that mapping is not just on buildings. It can be indoors, it can be on a body, on an object. So there's huge possibility with mapping."
Big buzz
There's a big buzz about video mapping in Europe, where Spain just held its third festival called the International Mapping Festival of Girona.
Montreal's festival takes place at night, but the video projections can be seen both indoors and out.
Several mapping artists have travelled from abroad to take part, including an artist-duo from Brazil named VJ Suave, who project playful and colourful animations from their tricycles.
"Their animation is so touching, it brings joy and happiness to people, and their idea is just beautiful," said Vu Dang.
"They put a projector on a bike and cycle through the city, and project characters onto buildings and gather people with them while they do that."
You can go along for the ride with VJ Suave on Saturday night. Meet them at the corner of Henri-Julien Avenue and des Carrières Street at 6 p.m. and take in their bright creations across buildings throughout Mile-End.
Mapping on human body
Thursday evening, head to the Never Apart gallery on Saint-Urbain Street to see how mapping works in an indoor setting.
Artists from Montreal and from France have put together two very different installations.
Create your own 60-second video projection on a human body at the Moment Factory on Parc Avenue Friday night.
On Saturday, several mapping artists will create projections onto the Van Horne viaduct, at the corner of St-Laurent Boulevard and Cloutier Street.
An open-air dance party is also planned.
Festival organizers hope hundreds of people will take in this inaugural event, so they can showcase their passion for mapping.
"It's a medium that reminds us a bit of the early days of cinema, when cinema arrived and it was still a technological [feat] and people were amazed by it," said Vu Dang.
"Our main goal is to gather the artists, to find new ideas and new ways to use [this] medium to make it become an art."
MAPP_MTL runs from Oct. 6 to 8.