PATCH 003: Projection Mapping Lab

Philly, projection mapping is how a building becomes a screen. At PATCH 003, we brought it down to the size of a table.

We split the room into five stations. Each station had a projector aimed at the wall and a small group building on their own laptops. People took turns sending their work to the projector, and everyone watched each other’s ideas land on the same wall.

Everyone built on projectionMapper, our open-source p5.js template. You drag four corners to fit your art to a surface, and you write the art in one file, art.js. It runs from a downloaded folder, with no install, no account, and no Wi-Fi. One of our volunteers is not a coder. She downloaded the folder, edited art.js in a plain text editor, and had it running.

Every person left with a project folder they changed themselves and can open again without help. That is the bar for a PATCH Lab.

Waskar Paulino taught the Lab. Diego Mendoza-Ramos ran the room and the gear. Fatima Conteh and Jay Turner helped at the door and the stations. Photos by Chris Sanchez.