Hueman’s ‘Homebody’

Artist Hueman uses projection mapping to bring large-scale artwork to life

The Ciel Creative Space in Berkeley, CA recently wrapped up Homebody, a fascinating immersive art experience, created by multidisciplinary artist Allison Torneros, known in the art world as “Hueman”. After Covid pushed back the originally opening, Homebody had a successful run from Jan. 28 to Feb. 20, 2022. By combining projection mapping and augmented reality with Hueman’s art, Homebody explored themes of identity within the self and the larger community through original murals, portraits, and sculptures that spanned much of the 20,000 sq. ft. space at Ciel.

Hueman’s distinctly gauzy art style is what she likes to call “etherealism”, a blend of ethereal realism. Whether she is creating on canvas, or painting massive walls with a spray can, she often draws on the human condition to create colorful mashups of the abstract and figurative. Her unique freestyle process involves creating tightly refined compositions from a spontaneous beginning of paint splashes, drips, and sprays, and her layered works can be seen on public streets and in galleries worldwide.

Creating an immersive art experience

Empowering creative minds to transform any space or object, global technology company Epson joined Hueman as the projector sponsor for Homebody. A range of Epson’s projectors and lenses were used throughout the Ciel space. “The past two years have affected the way people look at themselves and each other, and the collective experience in isolation is something worth reflecting on,” said Hueman. “With this exhibit, I wanted to explore identity in the context of an unprecedented moment in time, meeting at the intersection of art and technology. Epson’s laser projection technology has enabled me to create an immersive installation—submerging visitors in a colorful mashup of the abstract and figurative, providing a 360˚ experience that plays with themes of transparency, light, color, and space.”

Hueman collaborated with projection designer Craig Winslow, principal of Portland, OR-based Craig Winslow Studio, to realize this immersive experience. Winslow’s work often utilizes multiple mediums, from projection mapping, 3D, AR, VR, to XR; and uses a mix of new, old, and emerging technologies. A3 Visual, a video mapping company that creates dynamic environments with projection and video mapping techniques also joined the team to provide systems integration. Sean Mason, Chief Technology Officer out of A3 Visual’s San Francisco office, helped them to make this experience a reality. The team selected to use Epson LightScene^® and Pro Series 3LCD projectors in the three main installations throughout the space—as well as some of the other areas in the experience—to add dynamic projection mapping for a full 360˚ experience of the artwork.

Winslow and Hueman had worked together on a few projects before Homebody and have a good working relationship. “Where it really started was looking at her work and hearing her desire for something that’s trippy or something that was disparate or jarring, and then create some digital aspect to it that compliments it; doesn’t compete,” says Winslow. In terms of the layout and the flow, “it came from Allison as far as her vision for what to put in these multiple rooms. Throughout the whole project it’s been a nice collaborative atmosphere where we were playing with what animations, or what media, could augment her work, but not take away from it. To start, it was asking how are we animating these artworks?”

A closer look at the installations

There are three primary areas of the Homebody experience. Studio 1 housed Isolation, which aimed to explore the relationship between bodies and identities—and the way both evolve in relation to devices. Here veils of fabric, hung scattered across the space, are brought to life by projection-mapped animation. Winslow provided an immersive wash of AI-generated GAN [Generative Adversarial Networks] content, training an AI with Hueman’s selected artworks over video of the model featured in the printed strands hanging in the space. “Allison had some very beautiful, close-up shots of a model; just delicate face movements and hand movements,” says Winslow, “and she supplied me with that. The idea was to find a way to add that level of AI in Studio 1—that level you see in Studio 2 where they’re all AI generated portraits, none of them are real people. In Studio 1 that’s a real person. So, how could we take the truly purely human aspect and introduce some of the computer AI generated content in Studio 1? We did this GAN-style transfer basically, here is an image sequence of this closeup of the model, turning his face one side to the other and then pick a frame within the middle of that and basically change it so we’re overlaying her artwork onto that. The program I use, EbSynth, learns from that.”

Explaining further about the AI-generated content, Winslow continues, “Basically, you create certain key frames—the style you want—and it applies that through AI to a sequence of images. I did a series of clips, all these different close-up frames, and then blended them over each other. You would have one of her works transfer to the other works. She shared just the raw footage on her Instagram, so you could see it; because it’s hard to see, in the actual space, what is projecting. A computer trying to create Hueman’s art on top of an actual human; this is very complex. Then it’s aligning with that actual artwork that’s on the strips. Sometimes the eyes lined up, sometimes they didn’t, but it was meant to be intentionally abstract and just this very meditative space to walk through.”

Studio 2 was Collaboration, which explored the ingenious ways communities have been able to connect with each other remotely. This collaborative animation engulfed the space in projection-mapped imagery, exploring the transformation of human identity through time, from ancient statues to AI-created human faces. “We aimed to make this setup as simple as possible and focus on a content loop that revealed multiple layers and moments to make it nearly impossible to determine what is painted and what is pixel,” Winslow describes. The layering of projected art on top of Hueman’s actual art created a dynamic look and feel to this installation, as Winslow goes on to explain. “I did a lot of exploration as far as projecting the final artwork onto itself, which adds this really vivid layer. I’ve used that technique in a lot of the show where it just adds more color and vivid contrast to the works itself. It has almost that ‘70s felt posters feel, but in a new digital way. I really enjoyed that. Then we blended in different aspects of her original Photoshop mockup files. I had to warp all those to the final piece because obviously her mockups versus her finished paintings have slightly different mappings to them because they’re painted.”

Another aspect Winslow enjoyed exploring in the show was this idea of using an inverted version of the image itself. He notes, “There’s a lot of moments where you see this very eerie gray that’s literally using additive light as color theory, where I’m projecting an actual inverted image of the artwork itself. An area that’s black is getting highlighted with white light, an area that is white has black light and it makes this perfectly flat gray. I’ve just been fascinated with this technique because it truly is hard for the eye to try and figure out what it is, or what’s happening. Even with the light from those [LightScene] projectors that are bright enough where you still can’t really tell like what’s painted and what is pixel. I feel like that’s just such a successful technique in that room because everything else is a black void and they’re hanging there as these vertical monoliths that feel like the phones that we’ve all been looking at the past three years, obsessively.”

Chrysalis was in Studio 3, which for Hueman represented positive change with time passing. A sculpture of a large bust with an inverted face sat in the middle of a space, surrounded by a hanging curtain of organza. With projection mapping enhancing cloud murals on the walls, guests experienced a sunrise to sunset experience so they would feel a sense of peace and rebirth. “For Chrysalis, which was a day/night looping panorama mapped to her black and white cloud mural, I made it in [Adobe] After Effects / Premiere Pro, with 3D lighting for the head made in Blender,” says Winslow.

When asked was there a room he was particularly pleased with from Homebody, Winslow is quick to cite Studio 2. “The room called Collaborations really stands out to me as a successful bridging the gap between physical and digital—taking her paintings and highlighting different foundational layers of it. I’m able to highlight her sculptures or bring those moments in the painting to focus. It’s kind of a trippy effect. From the technical side, I work in Blender 3D to build out some of these layers of depth, especially seen in the Chrysalis installation [in Studio 3] where the 3D head was. I was supplied the 3D model of the head—so we had a physical 3D model and then a digital 3D model to play with along with 3D lighting and the render data. With Sean’s [Mason] help, we’ve mapped the projections to the face to make sure everything was precise.”

Controlling the installations

A3 Visual helped to ensure that the system integration and technology selected supported the artistic vision of Winslow and Hueman, which included providing the media servers. “We used Modulo Pi media servers for two of the spaces,” explains Mason. “They were used for control in Studio 1, Isolation, and Studio 3, Chrysalis. Each server has four outputs, and we networked the projectors to the server via Cat6 to allow for control automation. With the servers, we were easily able to take control of the Epson projectors and program them. We created a program, with full automation of all the projectors so that they turned on at a certain time, turned off at a certain time, and played the content at a certain time. Also, we needed to make a user interface (UI), so the gallery staff could easily control the projectors as well. We made an iPad interface for them to be able to push a button and turn on the projectors, maybe on one of the closed days if they had a private tour, or to adjust the volume of the music that’s playing along with the piece.”

Using the Modulo Player media server in Studio 3 allowed the team to sync and control lights and audio as a part of the projection mapping programming. “That was another interesting thing, which we hadn’t done before,” comments Mason. “We were able to use DMX over Art-Net to send signal to the [Chauvet] up lights and wash lights in the room and control the color. The color of the lighting changed when the projected content changed. We worked with Allison to pick out the palette that she wanted for the ambient light in the room to match the content that Craig had made. We almost always have audio with our other projection work, so that part was not new to us. Here we worked with the sound designers, to get the right files and make sure that it synced up exactly to loop with the visuals as well too. That integration of control meant the lights were able to change color to match the colors in the projection as Hueman’s piece progresses from night to sunrise, back to day and on to twilight and the sound also synced with the projection.”

In Studio 2, for Collaboration, all the content was hosted directly on the 11 Epson LightScene projectors via an SD card. Winslow points out, “We purely used the onboard SD card for the array of LightScene projectors in Studio 2, which worked well. I tested it in my studio at the angle/height we would project from.” Mason adds, “That was the first time we’ve done that, which was pretty interesting. That’s a nice feature as you don’t have to run a bunch of cables and deal with networking.” He also notes, “Craig and I used the internal corner pin functionality to line up the mapping and it worked really well, lining up the image in just a few minutes per projector. Also, Craig developed content that layered on top of the paintings with movement that animated the painted pieces.”

Mason points out that there was also an installation for Studio 4 where there was a stage for music and performance. This space used an Epson 15,000 lumen projector to create a backdrop for the stage. “This projector was a last minute add, so we used Resolume on a [Apple] Mac Mini,” states Mason. “We didn’t have automation control in this studio, but it was a good last-minute solution to adjust a simple map for the stage backdrop. The Ciel staff were able to use the projector remote to turn it on and off.”

This was the first time for A3 Visual where they were not the ones controlling the projection mapping themselves, but rather the client was the one who would have responsibility for the controls. “This was kind of a semi-permanent installation-level of automation as well as allowing for client control,” Mason says, “so it was an interesting way for us. It was the first time where we aren’t controlling the projection the entire time. It was really fun to work with Craig and the Ciel team, and work with these new projectors, and see it all come together and see them take the control as it got done.”

From the Ciel perspective, the automation that Mason and the A3 Visual team built for the Homebody experience was a great tool to have. “In terms of the automation of the projection system, it’s been amazing because we could just come in and easily turn it on, turn it off, or adjust as needed because it is a homegrown team,” comments Cecilia Caparas Apelin, CEO and Co-Founder of Ciel. “We don’t have all the tech experts onsite at all times, so for us, it was just a matter of pressing a button. Because we had live music at times, we’ve made adjustments in terms of audio levels. It’s been so good.”

Mason and the A3 Visual team’s scope of systems integration also included handling any networking required, doing all the technical drawings, rigging diagrams, routing diagrams, as well as the mounting of the projectors in the various spaces. Mason comments, “It was an interesting install for us because the particular projectors supplied by Epson we had not used before. It was fun to see what the new projectors could do. I particularly found the ultra-short throw snorkel lens in Studio 3 really impressive. The amount of coverage we were able to get just being seven-feet from the surface, shooting an image 15’ wide. All the lenses in Studio 3 were the reversed mirror snorkel lenses, which was my first time using them with those projectors. They worked really well.”

“Hueman’s exhibit is a beautiful example of how projection technology can expand possibilities and applications to create an immersive art experience,” said Remi Del Mar, senior product manager, Epson America, Inc. “Epson’s laser projectors enable artists and designers to experiment with digital media and change the perception of any space or object. This is the type of unbridled creativity that is only possible with projection light.” Homebody was a truly dynamic and immersive experience—both for the audiences who experienced it and for the artists and technicians involved with it. It was an interesting project that really pushed the mix of art and technology. It will be interesting to see what Hueman and others come up with next.

Epson Enables Immersive Engagement

Epson LightScene 3-chip 3LCD laser projectors are a convergence of lighting and display technology with a built-in media-player, SD card for onboard content, sealed optical engine, and available in a black or white track-mount-style spotlight design. LightScene projectors are available with an array of configuration, mounting and programming options and capable of 360˚ horizontal rotation and up to 180˚ vertical rotation. The EV-110 and EV-115 models produce 2,200 Lumens of output, WXGA (1280 x 800) Native Resolution and includes a 1.58x powered optical zoom, plus powered focus. Connectivity options include GPI motion sensing, HDMI, RJ-45, wired and wireless LAN, and Bluetooth-enabled for direct content storage and playback when needed. Remote management and control tools include web-based application or over networks including Crestron, Art-Net, and others. The Homebody installation used 12 Epson LightScene projectors with 2,000 and 2,200 Lumen outputs.

Epson Pro Series projectors are a line of live-event projectors that feature mechanical shutters, removable interface boards, sealed optics, a range of available mounts, hanging frames, as well as a wide array of lenses to overcome challenging space restrictions. The Pro Series have advanced 3-chip projection with 3LCD technology, native WUXGA resolution with 4K Enhancement Technology (1,920 x 1.200 x 2), 11 optional interchangeable lenses, a built-in camera, mechanical shutter, DMX or Art-Net control, and sealed optics. The Homebody installation used a range of Epson Pro Series 3LCD projectors including 7,000, 8,000, and 12,000 Lumen models.

To learn more about Homebody, visit https://www.huemanhomebody.com, and for more about Epson go to www.Epson.com