This is a project for MET EXPO 2015.
The Great Wave Caprice hopes to challenge the way of appreciating paintings in museums. It intends to bring a different experience by making use of a series of paintings of Mount Fuji in different perspectives to recreate a 3D sculptural projection in compared with the original pieces. Four sides of Mount Fuji will be rear projected on four pieces of tracing paper, and each side of the mountain will move dynamically as one.
As an art amateur willing to explore different way of appreciating paintings and a programmer passionate about physical simulations, I was very thrilled when MediaLab took us to visit the scientific research department working on image layering and color spectrum for the famous painting Great Wave off Kawagana, aka, The Great Wave. I was very impressed by the methods people in this department are using to research on wood block paintings for displaying to the public under the best lighting conditions later. As I got to know more about this piece, I realized that The Great Wave is only one of the thirty six paintings done by Japanese artist Hokusai around 1830s, and the rest of this series, thirty-six views of Mount Fuji, is all about perspectives and narrations of the same historic spot, Mount Fuji. This led me to think: why don’t I put these paintings together so that people can appreciate this series while they are walking around as if there is a real Mount Fuji in the center of that place instead of standing still in front of each painting as traditionally do? I then decided to take this opportunity to experiment dimensions and interactions on paintings of various perspectives in museums.
Four of thirty six paintings will be selected from this series according to the location of where the artist drew the painting. The Great Wave will be firstly selected as heading “north”, and the rest of selections will be geographically matched to south, east, and west respectively. These four paintings then, will be rear projected on four directions of a traditional Japanese paper lantern. By allowing the audience to walk around this physical 3D object, The Great Wave Caprice hopes to connect the experience of the artist with the audience, and makes them feel like they are traveling in Japan place by place around Mount Fuji. Beside the way of displaying these paintings, The Great Wave Caprice also allows audience to interact with them, more specifically, to make the wave move like real by moving the mouse within the laptop screen that connects the projector. By doing the above, The Great Wave hopes to recreate a physical sculptural projection that connects with the original paintings in the help of digital technologies.
For more information please visit: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B46Mtg2MEITEflExM29sbjIwaFNQbndiMUprUTBvN2FWcm1GS2Z2N2Yxekh2X0tUOHlua28&authuser=0