ARTICLE: How to make your ideas real in the 21st century / TAGCDMX
We all dream. Dreams have been a source of inspiration for most of us at some point in our lives, who among us can say they’ve never been lost in thought, wandering magical places inside their imagination that belong only to them? Contrary to popular belief, dreams do not belong exclusively to artists, for more often than not they motivate scientists and engineers as well. And thanks to them, we were able to create technologies that go beyond reality bringing to life our fantasies and visions with magic.
Yes, magic. Don’t believe magic is real? Well, how about “movie magic”?
Cinema has been one of the ways dreamers were able to share their vision with the world. As early as Georges Meliés and their classic films of mermaids and space travel, the movie industry has always been able to show their dreams, even before the technology was available. We’ve come a long way since superimposing frames to make ghosts, and now we can even bring them back to life.
Shot of a "Trip to the Moon" by George Meliés
We were lucky enough to attend #TagCDMX, the biggest technology + creativity event in Mexico City that brings together creatives from all over the world to share with us some tips & secrets. The weekend long phenomenon offered hundreds of interesting talks, workshops and activities given by experts and cool companies.
Some of those companies are dedicated to making every dream part of a reality, one of them is Framestore. They specialize in visual effects in modern movies and they talked to us a little bit about their up and coming projects and how they use technology to manipulate reality within a film. In this commercial, we see that using coding and scanning movement technology they were able to bring the immortal Audrey Hepburn to modern day. Imagine that! I don’t think anyone would believe they’d see Audrey acting past the 90’s, but Framestore made it possible.
One of the important parts of making things possible, is also being aware of the things you currently have and how to make them work. That’s one of the main lessons we got from Tupac Martir, a multimedia artist who specializes in visual design, who gave a small showcase about his method.
We sat down and witnessed him create an installation before our own eyes, using light to manipulate the atmosphere within the world he just created. His first step is asking himself:
“What do I need to make it come to life?”
And then going from broader ideas to specifics, thus channeling his thoughts into what he wants to achieve and how to do it. He maintains his technique is very experimental, but that’s how he ends up with unexpected solutions to current situations. For example, on his show, we saw he used a dancer and a piece of wood to create percussions instead of using a drumset, and with that he added movement and a new character to his story.
Shots from @tupacmarti
We also got to see some of the work by Cocolab and Refik Anadol, in which we got to see a little bit more about the power of light to create visual illusions that manipulate our surroundings. In Refik Anadol’s Infinity Room, whoever walks in experiences the relativity of finiteness since the artist made a small room of 3x3 turn into a never ending space, making us question to what extent what our senses perceive dictate what we consider our “reality”.
In Cocolab’s White Canvas on the other hand, play with the absence of light and sounds of nature and other miscellaneous noises, to take us somewhere beyond our imagination, creating the appearance of a starry night sky or rain with their playing lights going in different directions.
Shot by @prichula
Although it’s hardly magic and more so illusions, there is no doubt technology has helped create the appearance of the impossible as something tangible. And even though some play with light, darkness and space can’t manipulate our actual reality, it can definitely helps us perceive it. And isn’t that exactly the good thing about “reality”? How subjective it is for everyone? Who knows, we’ve come a long way. The human race has done crazier things with fewer resources (remember the moon landing?), and all it takes is one insane, but determined person to make things possible. We live in a golden era, where technology and creativity can come together to make new perspectives and possibilities.
We have the tools, all that’s left is finding someone brave enough to experiment with them. Do you dare to create?
You can find more about the event in the future at http://tagfestival.com.
Article by @k.kathya.