Picasso of Projections Brett Phares brings his projection art to Downtown Wellen. WORDS BY DYLAN CAMPBELL
SOMETIMES PAVING THE WAY TOWARD THE FUTURE ENTAILS GOING BACK TO THE PAST. Such is the case at Downtown Wellen, where projection-based art will flow over the walkways, facades, and living areas of the community. “It’s an immersive experience,” says Brett Phares, the founder of Lightstruct, the studio bringing this experience to Downtown Wellen. “There are precedents going back a millennia from cave paintings to cathedrals that deal with projection. What we’re doing here is sort of an inverse of that.” Projection-based art is the practice of projecting ever-flowing pieces of art onto the facades of buildings, sidewalks, and the surrounding environment of a community. Think of it as an art gallery, except for that the art is not fixated in one place, but rather a part of your immediate surroundings, creating a truly immersive experience that allows you to view your community in a completely different light. Phares, who has a background as an artist and instructor, made his first foray into the medium when he worked with Wellen Park division president Rick Severance on a new living community on Florida’s Panhandle. ‘The buildings were skinned with white stucco—which inherently made for a perfect canvas,” says Phares. One of the reasons that
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the art program elicited such a response was its ability to spark a dialogue amongst community members. “It made a huge impression on people —not just in how they saw the community, but by providing an avenue for people to talk to each other,” says Phares. “When you go into a museum or institution, you don’t really think about talking to each other. With this being outdoors and having each projection onto a different residence, makes it similar to a museum, but you end up walking around free to discuss what you’re thinking with people around you.” In Downtown Wellen, the projectors will be placed semipermanently all over the community —allowing people to be a part of this ever-evolving artistic experience. As a curator, part of what draws Phares to the medium is the ability to experiment projecting onto different angles and facades, each one creating a new piece for the viewer to immerse themselves in. “What’s great with projection is that it’s always changing and fresh instead of a physical sculpture that’s locked in. This is something that happened initially where we’re projecting on buildings but as the environment matures you start projecting on everything: trees, ceilings, sidewalks,” says Phares. “it does become truly immersive and an experience that kids and
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grandparents alike love getting into. They all embrace it— it has its own dignity.” When playing with the different angles and possibilities of the perspectives, Phares can end up with illusions such as Pepper’s Ghost – a 19th-century theater technique that gave the illusion of a person being on stage through the presence of a silhouette. “Sometimes you can get almost a hologram of people inside a window from the different angles of projection. Those are surprises that only happen when you’re able to walk around it like a sculpture in the round. Those surprises are what fuel the creativity in each individual and start affirming their own way to interpret it, reminding themselves of their presence. When kids run into the light, they become silhouettes – just like cavemen did back in their times with projection-based art.” WPL Come out to experience the projection-based art exhibition launching this spring at Downtown Wellen.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYATT KOSTYGAN | SRQ MEDIA
2/8/23 4:45 PM