Virtual Laser Show for FoolMoon Reimagined
Background
Since 2013, Illuminatus Lasers has been a fixture of FoolMoon, an Ann Arbor light festival/art event. We started on the roof of the Mongolian Barbeque, projecting onto a bank building, then moved to an alley projecting onto an apartment building, then into the main area on Washington St. for three years. Last year, we moved with the festival to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, projecting onto the walls of Kerrytown.
Retrospective gallery here:
https://www.instagram.com/runswithlasers/
We usually run a combination of laser lumia controlled by our ILDA Award-winning lunchbox controllers (controlled by the audience), all mixed with Dances With Lasers, an interactive piece where people dance before a Kinect sensor that captures their outlines, which are then sent to our laser projectors, thence to our projection surface, usually a building wall. Video of this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oI2oLGKOqw
FoolMoon Reimagined
This year, we are part of FoolMoon Reimagined, an online effort moved indoors due to the current Covidian crisis. The fest runs from 8 to 9pm on April 3, 2020; more info here: FoolMoon site
Interactive Lasers the Hard Way
To take part, Illuminatus Director Mike Gould (“I’m not sequestered, I’m an artist in residence”) has set up a laser display in his studio, and will be streaming the show to Facebook Live during the event. To make this interactive, it is set up so that comments to his Facebook page will be cut and pasted into his laser software (Pangolin Beyond) and added to the mix as scrolling text.
Users are encouraged to share their recent experiences (briefly), artistic comments, or random thoughts to the show. To take part, go here:
https://www.facebook.com/Clickamouse
Illuminatus Lasers seen in hit horror film Hereditary
6/16/2017
Shooting lasers, from left to right: Assistant to Producer Tyler Campellone, Director of Photography Pawel Pogorzelski, Laser Artist Mike Gould. Photo by Assistant to Line Producer Cameron Thuman.
The movie concerns a family haunted by an evil demon. Shot partially on location at a Salt Lake City high school, the film is called Hereditary. The Director of Photography, Pawel Pogorzelski, found Mike on Google by searching for “laser artist”.
Pawel (Pa-VEL) described the effect he was looking for, and I was able to offer a solution, which involved expensive lasers, software, and home-made photonic hardware. Our hero is walking down a school corridor, and a mysterious light appears and scans down the hallway, overtaking him and disappearing into a classroom door. This mystery light was dubbed “Tinkerbell” and appears (and disappears) in several places in the movie.
Illuminatus Lasers Wins Second ILDA Award
Ann Arbor’ Illuminatus Lasers won their second award for the laser-based music video we created in the summer of 2015.
The International Laser Display Association (ILDA) gives out awards at their annual conferences. 2016’s conference was in Baltimore, where Illuminatus Lasers provided a lumia laser display in addition to picking up the award. We took second place in the edited video category.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk6iA2vDmQk
At the award ceremony, Mike said:
We won this award largely on the strength of our unique use of Lumia, a type of laser display featuring colorful wispy abstract swirls. We also used conventional laser beams and shapes, and were able to combine all this with a singer and dancers into a coherent three-minute music video.
The video was shot in Mike’s studio and around the pond in his back yard, and features a laser projector he built into an antique lunchbox.
The music video director on this project was Donald Harrison, long-time former director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. He is currently working on a documentary about Ann Arbor’s Community High School. He was assisted in this shoot by his Assistant Camera, Ava Burnham.
Other members of the production team included Tom Bray (production and lighting), Wayne Gillis (laser safety and technical support), and Steve Rich (logistics and business development).
Illuminatus Lasers performed at the Detroit Maker Faire July 30-31, 2016 in the Henry Ford Museum. This was our fifth appearance there, and we had interactive laser displays for visitors to play with. We won our 3rd “Editor’s Award” for our booth.
Illuminatus lasers featured at DLECTRICITY on the Majestic Theater-Click for Pix.
L is for Laser had its second exhibition at Ann Arbor’s Hands-On Museum in the summer of 2014.
Illuminatus Head Honcho Wins International Laser Art Award
Mike won an ILDA award for his laser art at the 2012 ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids.