Symbiosis Gathering 2009, Camp Mather, California
Symbiosis Gathering was held at Camp Mather, a park, owned by the city of San Francisco, but located immediately adjacent to Yosemite National Park. The reason San Francisco owns a park 150 miles from its city limits is because of the watershed, and the incredibly challenges involved with delivering clean drinking water to 2 million people and surrounded by industry, agriculture and the ocean.
San Francisco bought the land early in the 20th century, and in the 1930’s, with some WPA assistance, they engineered the incredible system of dams, reservoirs and pipelines that delivers clean mountain water to the entire Bay Area.
This installation came about because Symbiosis Staff Karen and Katrina wanted an engaging way to educate festival participants about the neighboring watershed, and the impact that event participants upstream could have on people below them.
The Ill Lumen Nation brought a team of two painters and a projection technician to complete the project. Over the course of three days, we created an interactive map of central California, using augmented reality to overlay digital animations on a mural painted with actual paint.
The mural depicted the watershed, the terrain, and human impact on the environment. On the second night of the installation, curious observers could interact with the mural, using a hand-built, antique-looking controller that triggered animations and effects on the mural. By the third night of its creation, the mural told a convincing narrative about the watershed: its history, its significance, and the impact of things like logging, pesticides, pollution and global warming on the quality of life downstream.
Christopher Darrow produced the video with Music from Sidecar Tommy and Tigran Mimosa
Crew: Gabe Shaughnessy, Dan Cohen, Travis McCann
Support: Symbiosis Gathering, Christopher Darrow, M1, Sidecar Tommy and Tigran Mimosa.
The website Create Digital Motion picked up our project, you can read the it here. Thanks a lot, its an honor to be featured on a website that we regularly turn to for inspiration.