Monthly Archives: March 2011

As it was not possible for Dima to take many photos I was very pleased to be sent some more images from the two evenings of projector bombing we did in Prague last week as part of the Lunchmeat Festival – so first, a big ‘thank you’ to the photographers – Kuba, Dita Havrankova and Lenka Balounova!

Here are photos of the performance on the roof terrace at DOX Gallery.As it was a real jam session I decided to make a sequence of both abstract and figurative images for this setting. Here are photos of the two musicians who provided the live accompaniment for my drawing.It was the sound system in the Red Bull car that was used for music to accompany the street projections.Below are some more photos from the street session outside BIO OKO.In order to cover the whole height of the building Kuba held the projector on its side – a great idea that worked really well – but drawing was much more difficult, as either I had to stand sideways or try remember that when I moved the pen up on the tablet, the line went down on the building and movement left showed up as movement right!
Unfortunately, on Thursday evening it was seriously wet – not the best weather for projector bombing!I was the lucky one, cowering inside the van (although this proved to be not the most comfortable position for drawing!)But despite the bad weather this was a great projection location.As well as ‘drawing’ on the wall I was able to incorporate the statue in the niche into the pictures.When we moved to the next location we parked the van next to the Red Bull car in the car park end-on to the wall. With the back door of the van raised to form a ‘roof’, a raincoat draped over the back of the Tagtool to give extra protection from the rain and the projector inside the van sitting on the tailgate, this was a much more comfortable drawing position for me.The audience was not so lucky!My projection area fell within one of the ‘loops’ of the permanent mural that covers this big wall and as there was a lot of ambient light at this location I chose not to use the transparency slider but instead concentrate on making big bold images in pure colours.I ended the session with a bit of advertising for the remaining events of the festival!It had been great fun, although we all went home very wet – and glad that our performance on Saturday at the Meetfactory would be indoors!

The evening began on the roof terrace at DOX – a wonderful location for Tagtooling! As I began to draw the rain stopped, the live music was great and a big audience came to see the performance. Everyone (except us!) seemed to be taking photos and video so I hope to have some images for a later posting.

Then we set off with the Red Bull Volvo to do some projector bombing on the street – and this was really great fun!
The photos below were taken from our first stop – outside Kino OkO. The gable end of this block of flats made a brilliant ‘canvas’ for drawing and the on-board sound system in the Red Bull car soon attracted a big crowd.

Our next stop was in Dlouha outside Roxy/Nod, a very popular club and gallery in the centre of Prague. Despite the narrowness of the street and bright lighting Kuba managed to angle the projector to make a huge drawing area for me on the front of the building next to the club. A big crowd soon gathered on the street, with lots of people taking photos. My new, beautiful Tagtoool All-in-one performed perfectly and was ideal for working on the street! Dima set it up and dismantled it very quickly – and in between managed to take these photos as well.

Dima has just finished making me this super powerful new All-in-one Tagtool (and it’s left handed of course!). I’m so pleased with it that I thought I’d do a posting showing how he made it. With the lid on it measures 52.5 x 77.5 x 27.5 cms and is made using the Adam Hall Easy Case System. The computer fits inside this flight case and the Wacom tablet and Tagtool are attached underneath the (removable) drawing surface that fits inside the lid. There is enough space under the drawing surface next to the computer to store all the cables and also the projector – and even with all this inside I can still lift it by myself (just!)Fitting together all the components for the computer – the part of the process that I know Dima likes best! He decided to use a very cheap (and therefore light) computer case for this.Next came the measuring and cutting of the material for the flight case – a much less less exciting task and very important to do accurately!Then all the parts just had to be slotted together and riveted in place.

The photos below show how we fitted the Wacom tablet into the work surface – and fortunately there was just enough of the aluminium strips left over from making the case to make the two ‘rails’ (which fitted perfectly!) to hold the tablet in place.The next task was to make the back so that the drawing surface would be sloping when in use. (The hinge came off an old mirror that we found on a rubbish dump…as usual, no project of ours is complete without a bit of recycling!)After that Dima drilled and cut this plastic work surface in order to fit the sliders, arduino and the big red button for the Tagtool.Then it was time to solder all the wires for the Tagtool – another tricky operation requiring patience and concentration!Below is a view of the interior of the flight case showing the luggage straps that secure the computer in position inside.This photo shows the finished case all packed up and ready to go. It is lockable, has extra side handles for easy carrying and air vents in the base for the fans when the computer is running.I’m really looking forward to using it – and as we have two performances in Prague this week, at DOX Gallery on Wednesday evening and at the Meetfactory on Saturday night as part of the Lunchmeat Festival, Dima has finished my new Tagtool just in time!