DRKHRT

The debut of DRKHRT: The Duality of Love was a collaboration with designer and fabricator Matt Bajor (aka UNAUTHORIZED). The project was made possible by a generous art grant from The Love Burn festival in Miami, FL. Matt brought Damien onto the project team for his expertise in projection mapping to help bring his sculpture to life by painting it with light.

The piece stood over 15 feet tall, weighing in at over 7,500 pounds, and featured propane flame effects, with custom-designed electronics/safety systems, in addition to custom projected visuals. This project was an opportunity to develop a number of new skills, including the building and operating of flame effects in compliance with NFPA 160 safety standards.

Damien utilized 3D mockups of the finalized design to plan the mapping and visuals leading up to the event, creating imagry inspired by Matt’s artistic vision: to explore the dualistic nature of love’s ability to create both joy and pain. He used a suite of applications to generate a wide range of visual patterns throughout the event including Resolume Arena/Wire, Chaser, and HeavyM, with triggers and timing controlled via TouchOSC. Damien leveraged projector stacking techniques to maximize the brightness of the display so that it would able to be seen while the flame effects were active.