The interactive VJ installation VAPOR was created by students that took part in the „Media in Space“ class that was conducted by DI Stefan Kraus in the summer of 2007. Following the invitation of SHINING Festival that was planned to happen in one of the first German Autobahn roadhouses the students developed a temporary projection structure that could be installed at the location in a reasonable amount of time.
While some of the parts could be prepared at Bauhaus-University’s workshops, most of the structure had to be built on location. Apart from some steel elements the main construction material was wooden lathes. The head of the sculpture was made up entirely of a lath construction that was planned in CAD weeks before. The rest of the structure should be improvised on the base of wooden frames.
When the wooden structure was finished the projection planes had to be defined. The team used OPERA projection screen to cover up the fields. Meanwhile the lighting and the projector setup was installed and wired by the event construction company. Now the video crew had to create masks for the projectors to limit the projection to the planes only.
Two powerful graphic workstation running the real-time compositing software MXWENDLER were used to create the visuals. One computer could be performed live by the VJs and the resulting image was fitted and projected on the two main screens behind the stage. The remaining three projectors were fed by the other computer that was running a standalone remix of the main screen signal that would constantly be moved from the entrance towards the stage.
The lighting was controlled by Florian Licht who used a Light Commander console and the e:cue light control software.
The live VJing on the structure was performed by the Bauhaus MX VJ Team: MXZEHN, HERR LICHT, WÜSTENARCHITEKTEN, NEONAUT and THE VIDNESS.
After two days of party and performance the whole structure was deconstructed carefully and transported back to Weimar where it should be presented at the annual Show of the Faculty of Design RUNDGANG. With all elements already built and prepared it took only two days (compared to initially four) to reconstruct the structure in Weimar’s GASWERK. VAPOR was installed at the core of the finissage of RUNDGANG and this time we also had the chance to choose the music. We did so by booking live act CINDY SIZER and the notorious DJ team PAIN TURTLES, both run by participants of the „Media in Space“ class.