08.24.24 – 09.30.24
Projections were displayed at the following locations:
- 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY
- Atlanta, GA
- Baltimore, MD
- Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, NY
- Brooklyn Bridge, New York, NY
- Cincinnati, OH
- CitiField, New York, NY
- Cleveland, OH
- Columbus Circle, New York, NY
- Columbus, OH
- Detroit, MI
- Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward Park, New York, NY
- Dumbo Archway, New York, NY
- Emerson Collective, New York, NY
- Grand Army Plaza, New York, NY
- High Line, New York, NY
- Houston, TX
- Kimalu Square, New York, NY
- Little Island, New York, NY
- Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
- Miami, FL
- Oakland, CA
- Pioneer Works, New York, NY
- Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
- Tampa, FL
- The Arch Manhattan, New York, NY
- Union Square, New York, NY
Jeffrey Gibson and Zach Reich
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection on Brooklyn Bridge
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection on Brooklyn Bridge
We began this project with a suite of bright colors. Vivid, bold colors from across the spectrum are a hallmark of the artist’s work. The artist created twenty sketches of radial color gradients, from which we began the design of all projections.
For these projections, the artist wrote an original poem, titled “The Spirits Are Laughing.” In this poem, five anthropomorphized beings speak: The Animals, The Sky, The Land, The Water, and The People. Through this work, the artist brings diverse life forms into conversation with the viewer. This poem not only highlights various parts of nature, but also emphasizes why climate week –– which preserves the lives of these speakers –– is so important. This poem was to be incorporated throughout the projection designs.
- The Sky: the spirits are laughing / i am your relative / look up at me and smile / laugh with me / cry with me / breathe me in / breathe me out / acknowledge the sun and moon / wish upon my stars / know that i love you
- The Land: the spirits are laughing / i am your relative / you have consumed me / you will return to me / i have no boundaries / you don’t own me / i don’t own you / i have always been here / i will continue to change / i love you
- The Water: the spirits are laughing / i flow through your body / i am your relative / i am transformative / please take care of me / don’t poison me / you can’t live without me / i am listening / talk to me / i love you
- The People: the spirits are laughing / we are your relatives / we are your ancestors / we emerged from the earth / we have never left you / we see you / you can speak to us / we can hear you / don’t be afraid of us / we love you
- The Animals: the spirits are laughing / we are your relatives / we live on the same land / we breathe the same air / we drink the same water / some of our relatives are extinct / we have families / we know the land / we can teach you / we love you
By blurring the gradients and animating them in After Effects, we created a continuously looping background animation that faded between the colors the artist chose. We then adjusted speed and scale for different projection and print resolutions.
Our next priority was organizing and animating the lines of the poem to be displayed on top of the background. Originally, the artist had proposed using his original handwriting to spell out the lines of the poem. The artist had previously used his handwriting to design pieces featured at the Venice Biennale and other locations, so he felt comfortable using the same technique for these designs. After receiving the words of the poem written in the artist’s handwriting, we vectorized the words and animated the strokes to look like the words were being written in real time.
For increased contrast, we used regular weight to list the speaker and bold weight for each of the lines of the poem. As an extra touch, we added a slight wiggling effect to each of the letters of the text, creating a feeling of constant movement and liveliness in the final typography animation design. This motion helped convey that each of these speakers are living, breathing beings.
We proceeded to incorporate five of the artist’s original pattern designs into the background graphics. We decided to overlay the patterns onto the animation of blurred colors that we had already created. To do so, we recreated each of the artist’s designs as vectored Illustrator patterns, which we then converted to masks and applied to the background in After Effects. When played at a 0.25sec delay on top of the original animation, the patterns appeared subtly over the background. With tweaks to scale and contrast, we completed the pattern overlays, used in both the final animations and still displays.
Finally, we began to optimize our design for each of the moving and still displays on which we planned to project. Each display used a different resolution and required a different animation length. One display even required a four-channel animation.
Designing the transitions in this animation was a challenge. When the background faded between yellow and green, the white text on top of the background became difficult to read. We decided to time the animation so that the previous line faded out as the background turned to yellow. The next line faded in as the background turned from green to blue.
Additionally, the typographic hierarchy required extra consideration. Though it was clear that there was a relationship between the speaker and the line of the poem, it was not initially clear what that relationship was. We considered using phrases like “the animals say” or “the land whispers” to achieve a clearer speaker/text relationship. We found that a simple colon after the name of the speaker was sufficient to convey that the speaker was saying the phrase displayed below.
Tastefully combining the patterns with the background proved challenging as well. Changing the blending mode of the pattern caused the colors in the background to become muted, while simply overlaying the shapes with a solid fill made the animation’s background feel distracting. By using the patterns as a stencil and playing the background animation at a 0.25sec delay through the pattern, the colors remained rich and the contrast between the background and the patterns was subtle.
Deadlines were tight for this project. Turnaround time was just three weeks from start to finish. Through frequent meetings over Zoom and in the artist’s studio, we collaborated productively and quickly.
It was a nice surprise to receive press coverage from the following sources: Hyperallergic, Artsy, and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins.
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection on Radio City Music Hall
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection in Madison Square Garden
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection in Union Square
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection on Little Island
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection in Kimalu Square
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection at Pioneer Works
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection in Columbus Circle
“The Spirits are Laughing,” 2024
Projection on Brooklyn Bridge
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